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As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
Luke 24:36-40 sits inside this longer paragraph.
As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?
See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
As they thus spake Iesus him selfe stode in the myddes of them and sayde vnto them: peace be with you.
And they were abasshed and afrayde supposinge that they had sene a sprete
And he sayde vnto them: Why are ye troubled and why do thoughtes aryse in youre hertes?
Beholde my hondes and my fete that it is even my selfe. Handle me and se: for spretes have not flesshe and bones as ye se me have.
And when he had thus spoken he shewed them his hondes and his fete.
And as they spake these things, Iesus himselfe stoode in the middes of them, and saide vnto them, Peace be to you.
But they were abashed and afraide, supposing that they had seene a spirit.
Then he saide vnto them, Why are ye troubled? and wherefore doe doutes arise in your hearts?
Beholde mine handes and my feete: for it is I my selfe: handle me, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me haue.
And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and feete.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv36, 38 The Lord himself showeth by certain and necessary signs,…
The Lord himself showeth by certain and necessary signs, that he was risen again, and that in the same body which he took upon him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv36–40 36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood…
36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Ver. 36. See Mar 16:14; Joh 20:19.
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 vv37–38 Spirits sometimes (by God’s permission or direction) assumed human…
Spirits sometimes (by God’s permission or direction) assumed human shapes. They seeing a human shape, and not able on the sudden to conceive how a human body should come into the midst among them, without any more noise or notice taken of it, were affrighted, as we usually are at the sight of apprehended apparitions. From hence we may conclude, that either the world, and the best men in it, have been in all ages deceived, and a few atheists have been wiser than them all, or there are such beings as spirits.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v36 Five times Christ was seen the same day that…
Five times Christ was seen the same day that he rose: by Mary Magdalene alone in the garden (Joh 20:14), by the women as they were going to tell the disciples (Mat 28:9), by Peter alone, by the two disciples going to Emmaus, and now at night by the eleven, of which we have an account in these verses, as also Joh 20:19. Observe,
1. The great surprise which his appearing gave them. He came in among them very seasonably, as they were comparing notes concerning the proofs of his resurrection: As they thus spoke, and were ready perhaps to put it to the question whether the proofs produced amounted to evidence sufficient of their Master's resurrection or no, and how they should proceed, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and put it out of question. Note, Those who make the best use they can of their evidences for their comfort may expect further assurances, and that the Spirit of Christ will witness with their spirits (as Christ here witnessed with the disciples, and confirmed their testimony) that they are the children of God, and risen with Christ. Observe, 1. The comfort Christ spoke to them: Peace be unto you. This intimates in general that it was a kind visit which Christ now paid them, a visit of love and friendship. Though they had very unkindly deserted him in his sufferings, yet he takes the first opportunity of seeing them together; for he deals not with us as we deserve. They did not credit those who had seen him; therefore he comes himself, that they might not continue in their disconsolate incredulity. He had promised that after his resurrection he would see them in Galilee; but so desirous was he to see them, and satisfy them, that he anticipated the appointment and sees them at Jerusalem. Note, Christ is often better than his word, but never worse. Now his first word to them was, Peace be to you; not in a way of compliment, but of consolation. This was a common form of salutation among the Jews, and Christ would thus express his usual familiarity with them, though he had now entered into his state of exaltation. Many, when they are advanced, forget their old friends and take state upon them; but we see Christ as free with them as ever. Thus Christ would at the first word intimate to them that he did not come to quarrel with Peter for denying him and the rest for running away from him; no, he came peaceably, to signify to them that he had forgiven them, and was reconciled to them. 2. The fright which they put themselves into upon it (Luk 24:37): They were terrified, supposing that they had seen a spirit, because he came in among them without any noise, and was in the midst of them ere they were aware. The word used (Mat 14:26), when they said It is a spirit, is phantasma, it is a spectre, an apparition; but the word here used is pneuma, the word that properly signifies a spirit; they supposed it to be a spirit not clothed with a real body. Though we have an alliance and correspondence with the world of spirits, and are hastening to it, yet while we are here in this world of sense and matter it is a terror to us to have a spirit so far change its own nature as to become visible to us, and conversable with us, for it is something, and bodes something, very extraordinary.
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II. The great satisfaction which his discourse gave them, wherein we have,
1. The reproof he gave them for their causeless fears: Why are you troubled, and why do frightful thoughts arise in your hearts? Luk 24:38. Observe here, (1.) That when at any time we are troubled, thoughts are apt to rise in our hearts that do us hurt. Sometimes the trouble is the effect of the thoughts that arise in our hearts; our griefs and fears take rise from those things that are the creatures of our own fancy. Sometimes the thoughts arising in the heart are the effect of the trouble, without are fightings and then within are fears. Those that are melancholy and troubled in mind have thoughts arising in their hearts which reflect dishonour upon God, and create disquiet to themselves. I am cut off from thy sight. The Lord has forsaken and forgotten me. (2.) That many of the troublesome thoughts with which our minds are disquieted arise from our mistakes concerning Christ. They here thought that they had seen a spirit, when they saw Christ, and that put them into this fright. We forget that Christ is our elder brother, and look upon him to be at as great a distance from us as the world of spirits is from this world, and therewith terrify ourselves. When Christ is by his Spirit convincing and humbling us, when he is by his providence trying and converting us, we mistake him, as if he designed our hurt, and this troubles us. (3.) That all the troublesome thoughts which rise in our hearts at any time are known to the Lord Jesus, even at the first rise of them, and they are displeasing to him. He chid his disciples for such thoughts, to teach us to chide ourselves for them. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou troubled? Why do thoughts arise that are neither true nor good, that have neither foundation nor fruit, but hinder our joy in God, unfit us for our duty, give advantage to Satan, and deprive us of the comforts laid up for us?
2. The proof he gave them of his resurrection, both for the silencing of their fears by convincing them that he was not a spirit, and for the strengthening of their faith in that doctrine which they were to preach to the world by giving them full satisfaction concerning his resurrection. Two proofs he gives them: -
(1.) He shows them his body, particularly his hands and his feet. They saw that he had the shape, and features, and exact resemblance, of their Master; but is it not his ghost? "No," saith Christ, "behold my hands and my feet; you see I have hands and feet, and therefore have a true body; you see I can move these hands and feet, and therefore have a living body; and you see the marks of the nails in my hands and feet, and therefore it is my own body, the same that you saw crucified, and not a borrowed one." He lays down this principle - that a spirit has not flesh and bones; it is not compounded of gross matter, shaped into various members, and consisting of divers heterogeneous parts, as our bodies are. He does not tell us what a spirit is (it is time enough to know that when we go to the world of spirits), but what it is not: It has not flesh and bones. Now hence he infers, "It is I myself, whom you have been so intimately acquainted with, and have had such familiar conversation with; it is I myself, whom you have reason to rejoice in, and not to be afraid of." Those who know Christ aright, and know him as theirs, will have no reason to be terrified at his appearances, at his approaches. [1.] He appeals to their sight, shows them his hands and his feet, which were pierced with the nails. Christ retained the marks of them in his glorified body, that they might be proofs that it was he himself; and he was willing that they should be seen. He afterwards showed them to Thomas, for he is not ashamed of his sufferings for us; little reason then have we to be ashamed of them, or of ours for him. As he showed his wounds here to his disciples, for the enforcing of his instructions to them, so he showed them to his Father, for the enforcing of his intercessions with him. He appears in heaven as a Lamb that had been slain (Rev 5:6); his blood speaks, Heb 12:24. He makes intercession in the virtue of his satisfaction; he says to the Father, as here to the disciples, Behold my hands and my feet, Zac 13:6, Zac 13:7. [2.] He appeals to their touch: Handle me, and see. He would not let Mary Magdalene touch him at that time, Joh 20:17. But the disciples here are entrusted to do it, that they who were to preach his resurrection, and to suffer for doing so, might be themselves abundantly satisfied concerning it. He bade them handle him, that they might be convinced that he was not a spirit. If there were really no spirits, or apparitions of spirits (as by this and other instances it is plain that the disciples did believe there were), this had been a proper time for Christ to have undeceived them, by telling them there were no such things; but he seems to take it for granted that there have been and may be apparitions of spirits, else what need was there of so much pains to prove that he was not one? There were many heretics in the primitive times, atheists I rather think they were, who said that Christ had never any substantial body, but that it was a mere phantasm, which was neither really born nor truly suffered. Such wild notions as these, we are told, the Valentinians and Manichees had, and the followers of Simon Magus; they were called Dokētai and Phantusiastai. Blessed be God, these heresies have long since been buried; and we know and are sure that Jesus Christ was no spirit or apparition, but had a true and real body, even after his resurrection.
(2.) He eats with them, to show that he had a real and true body, and that he was willing to converse freely and familiarly with his disciples, as one friend with another. Peter lays a great stress upon this (Act 10:41): We did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
[1.] When they saw his hands and his feet, yet they knew not what to say, They believed not for joy, and wondered, Luk 24:41. It was their infirmity that they believed not, that yet they believed not, eti apistountōn autōn - they as yet being unbelievers. This very much corroborates the truth of Christ's resurrection that the disciples were so slow to believe it. Instead of stealing away his body, and saying, He is risen, when he is not, as the chief priests suggested they would do, they are ready to say again and again, He is not risen, when he is. Their being incredulous of it at first, and insisting upon the utmost proofs of it, show that when afterwards they did believe it, and venture their all upon it, it was not but upon the fullest demonstration of the thing that could be. But, though it was their infirmity, yet it was an excusable one; for it was not from any contempt of the evidence offered them that they believed not: but, First, They believed not for joy, as Jacob, when he was told that Joseph was alive; they thought it too good news to be true. When the faith and hope are therefore weak because the love and desires are strong, that weak faith shall be helped, and not rejected. Secondly, They wondered; they thought it not only too good, but too great, to be true, forgetting both the scriptures and the power of God.
[2.] For their further conviction and encouragement, he called for some meat. He sat down to meat with the two disciples at Emmaus, but it is not said that he did eat with them; now, lest that should be made an objection, he here did actually eat with them and the rest, to show that his body was really and truly returned to life, though he did not eat and drink, and converse constantly, with them, as he had done (and as Lazarus did after his resurrection, who not only returned to life, but to his former state of life, and to die again), because it was not agreeable to the economy of the state he was risen to. They gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honey-comb, Luk 24:42. The honey-comb, perhaps, was used as sauce to the broiled fish, for Canaan was a land flowing with honey. This was mean fare; yet, if it be the fare of the disciples, their Master will fare as they do, because in the kingdom of our Father they shall fare as he does, shall eat and drink with him in his kingdom.
3. The insight he gave them into the word of God, which they had heard and read, by which faith in the resurrection of Christ is wrought in them, and all the difficulties are cleared. (1.) He refers them to the word which they had heard from him when he was with them, and puts them in mind of that as the angel had done (Luk 24:44): These are the words which I said unto you in private, many a time, while I was yet with you. We should better understand what Christ does, if we did but better remember what he hath said, and had but the art of comparing them together. (2.) He refers them to the word they had read in the Old Testament, to which the word they had heard from him directed them: All things must be fulfilled which were written. Christ had given them this general hint for the regulating of their expectations - that whatever they found written concerning the Messiah, in the Old Testament, must be fulfilled in him, what was written concerning his sufferings as well as what was written concerning his kingdom; these God had joined together in the prediction, and it could not be thought that they should be put asunder in the event. All things must be fulfilled, even the hardest, even the heaviest, even the vinegar; he could not die till he had that, because he could not till then say, It is finished. The several parts of the Old Testament are here mentioned, as containing each of them things concerning Christ: The law of Moses, that is, the Pentateuch, or the five books written by Moses, - the prophets, containing not only the books that are purely prophetical, but those historical books that were written by prophetical men, - the Psalms, containing the other writings, which they called the Hagiographa. See in what various ways of writing God did of old reveal his will; but all proceeded from one and the self-same Spirit, who by them gave notice of the coming and kingdom of the Messiah; for to him bore all the prophets witness. (3.) By an immediate present work upon their minds, of which they themselves could not but be sensible, he gave them to apprehend the true intent and meaning of the Old Testament prophecies of Christ, and to see them all fulfilled in him: Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, Luk 24:45. In his discourse with the two disciples he took the veil from off the text, by opening the scriptures; here he took the veil from off the heart, by opening the mind. Observe here, [1.] That Jesus Christ by his Spirit operates on the minds of men, on the minds of all that are his. He has access to our spirits, and can immediately influence them. It is observable how he did now after his resurrection give a specimen of those two great operations of his Spirit upon the spirits of men, his enlightening the intellectual faculties with a divine light, when he opened the understandings of his disciples, and his invigorating the active powers with a divine heat, when he made their hearts burn within them. [2.] Even good men need to have their understandings opened; for though they are not darkness, as they were by nature, yet in many things they are in the dark. David prays, Open mine eyes. Give me understanding. And Paul, who knows so much of Christ, sees his need to learn more. [3.] Christ's way of working faith in the soul, and gaining the throne there, is by opening the understanding to discern the evidence of those things that are to be believed. Thus he comes into the soul by the door, while Satan, as a thief and a robber, climbs up some other way. [4.] The design of opening the understanding is that we may understand the scriptures; not that we may be wise above what is written, but that we may be wiser in what is written, and may be made wise to salvation by it. The Spirit in the word and the Spirit in the heart say the same thing. Christ's scholars never learn above their bibles in this world; but they need to be learning still more and more out of their bibles, and to grow more ready and mighty in the scriptures. That we may have right thoughts of Christ, and have our mistakes concerning him rectified, there needs no more than to be made to understand the scriptures.
4. The instructions he gave them as apostles, who were to be employed in setting up his kingdom in the world. They expected, while their Master was with them, that they should be preferred to posts of honour, of which they thought themselves quite disappointed when he was dead. "No," saith, he, "you are now to enter upon them; you are to be witnesses of these things (Luk 24:48), to carry the notice of them to all the world; not only to report them as matter of news, but to assert them as evidence given upon the trial of the great cause that has been so long depending between God and Satan, the issue of which must be the casting down and casting out of the prince of this world. You are fully assured of these things yourselves, you are eye and ear-witnesses of them; go, and assure the world of them; and the same Spirit that has enlightened you shall go along with you for the enlightening of others." Now here they are told,
(1.) What they must preach. They must preach the gospel, must preach the New Testament as the full accomplishment of the Old, as the continuation and conclusion of divine revelation. They must take their bibles along with them (especially when they preached to the Jews; nay, and Peter, in his first sermon to the Gentiles, directed them to consult the prophets, Act 10:43), and must show people how it was written of old concerning the Messiah, and the glories and graces of his kingdom, and then must tell them how, upon their certain knowledge, all this was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.
[1.] The great gospel truth concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ must be published to the children of men (Luk 24:46): Thus it was written in the sealed book of the divine counsels from eternity, the volume of that book of the covenant of redemption; and thus it was written in the open book of the Old Testament, among the things revealed; and therefore thus it behoved Christ to suffer, for the divine counsels must be performed, and care taken that no word of God fall to the ground. "Go, and tell the world," First, "That Christ suffered, as it was written of him. Go, preach Christ crucified; be not ashamed of his cross, not ashamed of a suffering Jesus. Tell them what he suffered, and why he suffered, and how all the scriptures of the Old Testament were fulfilled in his sufferings. Tell them that it behoved him to suffer, that it was necessary to the taking away of the sin of the world, and the deliverance of mankind from death and ruin: nay, it became him to be perfected through sufferings," Heb 2:10. Secondly, "That he rose from the dead on the third day, by which not only all the offence of the cross was rolled away, but he was declared to be the Son of God with power, and in this also the scriptures were fulfilled (see Co1 15:3, Co1 15:4); go, tell the world how often you saw him after he rose from the dead, and how intimately you conversed with him. Your eyes see" (as Joseph said to his brethren, when his discovering himself to them was as life from the dead) "that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you, Gen 45:12. Go, and tell them, then, that he that was dead is alive, and lives for evermore, and has the keys of death and the grave,"
[2.] The great gospel duty of repentance must be pressed upon the children of men. Repentance for sin must be preached in Christ's name, and by his authority, Luk 24:47. All men every where must be called and commanded to repent, Act 17:30. "Go, and tell all people that the God that made them, and the Lord that bought them, expects and requires that, immediately upon this notice given, they turn from the worship of the gods that they have made to the worship of the God that made them; and not only so, but from serving the interests of the world and the flesh; they must turn to the service of God in Christ, must mortify all sinful habits, and forsake all sinful practices. Their hearts and lives must be changed, and they must be universally renewed and reformed."
[3.] The great gospel privilege of the remission of sins must be proposed to all, and assured to all that repent, and believe the gospel. "Go, tell a guilty world, that stands convicted and condemned at God's bar, that an act of indemnity has passed the royal assent, which all that repent and believe shall have the benefit of, and not only be pardoned, but preferred by. Tell them that there is hope concerning them."
(2.) To whom they must preach. Whither must they carry these proposals, and how far does their commission extend? They are here told, [1.] That they must preach this among all nations. They must disperse themselves, like the sons of Noah after the flood, some one way and some another, and carry this light along with them wherever they go. The prophets had preached repentance and remission to the Jews, but the apostles must preach them to all the world. None are exempted from the obligations the gospel lays upon men to repent, nor are any excluded from those inestimable benefits which are included in the remission of sins, but those that by their unbelief and impenitency put a bar in their own door. [2.] That they must begin at Jerusalem There they must preach their first gospel sermon; there the gospel church must be first formed; there the gospel day must dawn, and thence that light shall go forth which must take hold on the ends of the earth. And why must they begin there? First, Because thus it was written, and therefore it behoved them to take this method. The word of the Lord must go forth from Jerusalem, Isa 2:3. And see Joe 2:32; Joe 3:16; Oba 1:21; Zac 14:8. Secondly, Because there the matters of fact on which the gospel was founded were transacted; and therefore there they were first attested, where, if there had been any just cause for it, they might be best contested and disproved. So strong, so bright, is the first shining forth of the glory of the risen Redeemer that it dares face those daring enemies of his that had put him to an ignominious death, and sets them at defiance. "Begin at Jerusalem, that the chief priests may try their strength to crush the gospel, and may rage to see themselves disappointed." Thirdly, Because he would give us a further example of forgiving enemies. Jerusalem had put the greatest affronts imaginable upon him (both the rulers and the multitude), for which that city might justly have been excepted by name out of the act of indemnity; but no, so far from that, the first offer of gospel grace is made to Jerusalem, and thousands there are in a little time brought to partake of that grace.
(3.) What assistance they should have in preaching. It is a vast undertaking that they are here called to, a very large and difficult province, especially considering the opposition this service would meet with, and the sufferings it would be attended with. If therefore they ask, Who is sufficient for these things? here is an answer ready: Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, and you shall be endued with power from on high, Luk 24:49. He here assures them that in a little time the Spirit should be poured out upon them in greater measures than ever, and they should thereby be furnished with all those gifts and graces which were necessary to their discharge of this great trust; and therefore they must tarry at Jerusalem, and not enter upon it till this be done. Note, [1.] Those who receive the Holy Ghost are thereby endued with a power from on high, a supernatural power, a power above any of their own; it is from on high, and therefore draws the soul upward, and makes it to aim high. [2.] Christ's apostles could never have planted his gospel, and set up his kingdom in the world, as they did, if they had not been endued with such a power; and their admirable achievements prove that there was an excellency of power going along with them. [3.] This power from on high was the promise of the Father, the great promise of the New Testament, as the promise of the coming of Christ was of the Old Testament. And, if it be the promise of the Father, we may be sure that the promise is inviolable and the thing promised invaluable. [4.] Christ would not leave his disciples till the time was just at hand for the performing of this promise. It was but ten days after the ascension of Christ that there came the descent of the Spirit. [5.] Christ's ambassadors must stay till they have their powers, and not venture upon their embassy till they have received full instructions and credentials. Though, one would think, never was such haste as now for the preaching of the gospel, yet the preachers must tarry till they be endued with power from on high, and tarry at Jerusalem, though a place of danger, because there this promise of the Father was to find them, Joe 2:28.
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 vv36–40 And he said unto them, why are ye troubled,....…
And he said unto them, why are ye troubled,.... Who had more reason to rejoice, and be glad, as they were when they knew that it was Jesus:
and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? whether what they saw was Jesus, or an apparition, which gave them a great deal of trouble and uneasiness, and filled them with fright and terror; as it was, and is usual with persons when they fancy they see a spirit, or an apparition; see Mat 14:26.
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 vv36, 40 Jesus stood in the midst of them - It…
Jesus stood in the midst of them - It was just as easy to his Divine power to open a door undiscernibly, as it was to come in at a door opened by some other hand. Mark xvi, 14, 19; John xx, 19.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv36–37 Verse 36. And as they thus spake] While the…
Verse 36. And as they thus spake] While the two disciples who were going to Emmaus were conversing about Christ, he joined himself to their company. Now, while they and the apostles are confirming each other in their belief of his resurrection, Jesus comes in, to remove every doubt, and to give them the fullest evidence of it. And it is ever true that, wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, he is in the midst of them.
Peace be unto you.] The usual salutation among the Jews. May you prosper in body and soul, and enjoy every heavenly and earthly good! See the notes on Mt 5:9; Mt 10:12.
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 v36 Luk 24:36-43. As they thus spake, Jesus stood in…
Luk 24:36-43. As they thus spake, Jesus stood in the midst of them — While the disciples from Emmaus were giving their brethren an account of the Lord’s appearing to them, and were probably offering arguments to convince those (if any such were present) who doubted the truth of his resurrection, Jesus himself came in, and by his appearance, and by what he said and did in their presence, put an end to their discourse, and gave them all full satisfaction. How he came in, is not here said; but (Joh 20:19) we learn, it was when the doors of the room were shut where the disciples were assembled. It was, however, just as easy to his divine power to open a door undiscernedly, as it was to come in at a door opened by some other hand. And saith unto them, Peace be unto you — Thus graciously intimating that he forgave their former cowardice, and would still continue to treat them as friends, though they had of late conducted themselves in a manner unworthy of that character and relation. But they were terrified and affrighted — At this sudden, unexpected appearance; and supposed that they had seen a spirit — This is not to be wondered at, considering that they knew the doors of the room were shut, and secured by locks and bolts, for fear of the Jews. And in the present hurry of their thoughts, they did not reflect on the proofs Christ had so often given of his divine power, or on the evidences they had but just before received of his resurrection. And he said, Why are ye troubled? — Why are ye thus perplexed and affrighted? and why do thoughts — Διαλογισμοι, doubtful and suspicious reasonings, arise in your hearts, as if it were only the appearance of a spirit which you have here before you? Behold my hands and my feet — Which, for your satisfaction, still retain the scars of those wounds which I received in being nailed to the cross. Handle me, and see — Whether this be not really a solid and substantial body; for a spirit — As you know; hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have — But is only an empty form, presenting itself to the eye, but eluding the grasp of any hand. Here our Lord manifestly allows, both that disimbodied spirits, even the spirits of deceased persons, do exist, and that they may appear to the living. This the disciples supposed; and surely if they had been mistaken, our Lord would haw shown them their error. And he showed them his hands and his feet — And, as John says, also his side, in which probably was the appearance of a large wound, newly, but perfectly, healed. Our Lord did this that they might be fully convinced, by the united testimony of their senses, that he their Lord and Master was indeed risen. And while they yet believed not for joy — They did in some sense believe; otherwise they would not have rejoiced. But their excess of joy prevented a clear, rational belief; and wondered — Were in such astonishment, that they hardly knew what they saw or heard, or where they were; he said, Have ye here any meat? —
That I may eat with you, and thereby may still more fully assure you of the truth of my resurrection, and of the reality of my presence with you. And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish — On which it is probable they had been supping just before. And he took it, and did eat before them — Not that he had any need of any food, but to give them still further evidence, in order that not even a shadow of a doubt might remain in their minds, upon a point of the utmost importance to the business for which he came into the world, and a fundamental article of the Christian system. As our Lord remained on earth forty days after this, during which he had several interviews with his disciples, he continued all that time, according to this evangelist, (Act 1:3,) to give them still further proof of the reality of his resurrection; discoursing also to them concerning the nature of the new dispensation of religion, which he was about to erect in the world by their ministry.
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 vv36, 38, 39 Jesus stood in the midst of them - This…
Jesus stood in the midst of them - This was when the apostles were assembled, and when they had closed the doors for fear of the Jews, Joh 20:19. It was this fact, as well as his sudden and unexpected appearance, that alarmed them. The doors were shut, and the suddenness of his appearance led them to suppose they had seen a spirit.
Peace be unto you - This was a form of salutation among the Hebrews denoting a wish of peace and prosperity. See Gen 43:23. It was especially appropriate for Jesus, as he had said before his death that he left “his peace” with them as their inheritance Joh 14:27, and as they were now alarmed and fearful at their state, and trembling for fear of the Jews, Joh 20:19.
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 vv37, 39 The apostles thought they saw a Spirit, either good…
The apostles thought they saw a Spirit, either good or bad, that had taken the form of Jesus, and was come to deceive them. For that they did not doubt spirits appeared, we have abundant proofs throughout the whole New Testament: and our Saviour, instead of combating this opinion, seems rather to have confirmed it on more than one occasion. Indeed St. Augustine thinks it cannot, without temerity, be denied, that there are occasional apparitions of angels, of demons, and the souls of the dead. (Calmet) --- This, however, will not justify the credulity of many ignorant and weak people, who think that nobody can die, but their spirit is sure to appear; much less will it justify the superstitious observations of unusual occurrences, which are so commonly reported to happen, as significant of a departed soul. These occurrences are rare; nor should we suppose that the Almighty would be willing to suspend or change the established laws of nature without a sufficient cause, viz. some known good either to the departed soul, or surviving friends. (Haydock)
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 v36 2. The Appearing at Evening (Luk_24:36-45)
2. The Appearing at Evening (Luk_24:36-45)
(Parallel with Mar_16:14-18; Joh_20:19-23)
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36And as they thus spake, Jesus [he15] himself stood in the midst of them, and saithunto them, Peace be unto you.16 37But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposedthat they had seen a spirit. 38And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and whydo thoughts arise in your hearts [heart17]? 39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.18 41And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat [anything to eat, βρώσιμον]? 42And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, 43and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. 44And he said unto them, These are the [my19] words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_24:36. He Himself stood.—As appears from Joh_20:19, though the doors were closed. Suddenly He stands there, without any one knowing how He has come in, ἐν μέσῳ, id significantius quam in medium, Bengel. They hear the voice which they would have known again from thousands, and which repeats the wonted salutation of peace, which, however, from these lips and in this moment had an infinitely higher significance, which involuntarily reminds the disciples of the farewell benediction, Joh_14:27. With this word begins the evening appearance, which we unhesitatingly venture to name the crown of all His appearances on the Resurrection day. Till now He has satisfied individual needs, but now He comes into the united circle, into the first church of His own. No appearance had been so long and so carefully prepared for as precisely this; all that had been seen or heard besides on this day, were so many single beams which were to be concentrated into this focus. In no appearance, moreover, did our Lord reveal Himself with so many infallible signs (Act_1:5), and so victoriously overcome the unbelief of His first witnesses, as here. For their whole inner life, yea, for the founding of the kingdom of God upon the empty sepulchre as its foundation and corner-stone, was this evening of the highest significance and greatest worth. Nor can we wonder, then, that not less than three Evangelists give testimony to what here took place, each in His peculiar way. Mark, who visibly hurries rapidly to the end, does this only briefly in Luk_24:14, and proceeds, Luk_24:15 seq., to the general concluding account John places before our eyes what here took place, on its most inward spiritual side, and relates, moreover, that Thomas to-day was not in the company. Luke, on the other hand, maintains his character as Historiographer, by communicating the external course of what here took place, and with special detail, as physician, gives the visible and sensible proofs of the new life and corporeality of the Lord. Without making any further distinction between hours and days, he lets this evening appearance, with which for the true and inner life of the apostles everything was decided, coalesce with the last commands of the departure of the Lord as He blessed them, Modern criticism which would prove that our Lord, according to Luke, went to heaven on the very day of His Resurrection, and that, according to Mark, from a closed chamber, had here, therefore, in view of the fragmentary character of these last lines of the Evangelical history, an exceedingly easy work, but has unequivocally shown its lack of good will to connect these fragments into a well-ordered whole. We believe ourselves fully in the right when we consider Luke’s account respecting the evening appearance as ended in Luk_24:43, and see in Luk_24:44 the beginning of the last promised precepts which the Lord, according to all the Synoptics, imparted to His disciples shortly before His departure from the earth.
Luk_24:37. Terrified and affrighted.—From Joh_20:20, also, it appears that the disciples only became joyful after the Lord had shown them His hands and side, and that they, therefore, even a moment before, were terrified and affrighted. Even the manner of His entrance must have contributed to this, and however much they had begun to be prepared by all the events of the day for this meeting, yet this surprise must have come upon them the more strongly as the message of the angels had directed them to Galilee, and they, therefore, could by no means reckon on an appearance of the Master in the midst of them this very evening at Jerusalem. In their heart now prevails, as at evening in nature, a mixture of light and darkness. There is no longer the hopelessness of spirit, the bewilderment and uneasiness of early morning. The need of speaking together about the many enigmatical, nay, self-contradictory experiences of this day, has united them. In the hearts of some a spark of faith has arisen at Simon’s account; it is these who with joy greet the Emmaus disciples (Luk_24:34). With others, however, even after the account given by these latter, the understanding yet reluctates to yield adherence to that which the heart above everything desires. To these doubts is now added fear of the Jews, anxious care for the future; grounds enough for the Lord in His appearance to rebuke them in His peculiar way (Mark 16).
Luk_24:38. Why are ye troubled.—With this question begins the rebuke of unbelief. They believe that they see a departed spirit which has returned from Hades, φάντασμα, an umbra veiled in the semblance of a body, and, therefore, in a certain sense, a dead man; He will show them that it is He Himself who stands living before them, and this not in a seeming but in a real body, although one in the commencement of its glorification. We must represent to ourselves the immeasurable contrast between the mood of our Lord, who has peace and gives peace, and over against that the feelings of those who, as it were, will with trembling hands, scare back the supposed spectre into the spiritual world, and through their unbelief disturb our Lord’s enjoyment of the noblest evening of His life—this must we do in order to comprehend the whole value of the condescending goodness with which He in this address stoops to those of little faith. He asks them why thoughts, that is, scruples of a discouraging nature, doubting and gainsaying thoughts, arise in their hearts, since they without such wretched misgivings ought at once to have recognized Him as their living Master, and now He even encourages them to do what He had not even permitted to Mary. In order to convince them not only of the reality but also of the identity of His appearance, He will have them feel His hands and feet, nay, Himself, His body, and, moreover, especially the exposed places which bear the traces of the wounds of the cross. “But not merely as the signs of His crucifixion for the identification of His body did the Saviour show His wounds, but manifestly as signs of victory, proofs of His triumph over death. Moreover, therefore—and this is properly the deepest sense of His entering salutation—as the signs of peace, the peace of the sacrificial death, of the completed atonement.” Stier.
Luk_24:40. He showed them.—To the word He added, therefore, the deed of His love. Apparently they now actually touched with reverence the places indicated. Therefore John could afterwards justly speak of that which their hands had handled (1Jn_1:3), and it becomes doubly explicable why Thomas so decidedly demanded just this sign. He will in no respect be inferior to the others.
Luk_24:41. While they yet believed not for joy.—A profoundly psychological expression, which betrays the hand of the Evangelist-physician, and makes palpable to us the overwhelmingness of the joy which John (Luk_24:20), not without indirect retrospect to the promise of the Lord (Luk_16:22), so strikingly describes. First, the fact in their eyes was too terrible for them to be willing to believe. Now, it is too glorious for them to be able to believe. The anxiety as to yet possible illusion is the last dam which yet checks the stream of joy. In a similar temper of mind Jacob, perhaps, was, Gen_45:26.—But now that matters have come so far, our Lord rests not until He has completely accomplished His work on His disciples.
Luk_24:42. Broiled fish … honey-comb, ἀπὸμελισσ.—Honey of bees, such as in Palestine is frequently found in clefts of the rock and in hollow trees, so that it may literally be said of the land: “a land flowing with milk and honey;” to be distinguished from the honey of grapes and dates, which even at the present time is everywhere there prepared and exported in various forms, and which appears to be spoken of in Gen_43:11. The here-named viands constituted, perhaps, the remains of the already ended supper of the disciples, who, perhaps, during the last days had, in the upper chamber of the unknown house in which our Lord celebrated His last Passover and elsewhere in the capital, a definite place of meeting. The objection that in the Old Testament angels also had eaten without possessing a true human body, could now no longer arise in the hearts of the disciples, since they had previously touched Him. Without further delay our Lord takes the food and eats it before their eyes, and they—drank with full draughts from the cup of the most blessed delight.
In this word and in this sign consisted, according to our opinion, the rebuke of the unbelief which Mark, in his summary statement (Luk_24:14), designates as the characteristic feature of this particular appearance. We account this, at least, as much more probable, than that our Lord, even after and besides that related by Luke, should have embittered the joy of this evening to His disciples by the holding of a severe preaching of repentance after they had recognized and believed Him. Then we should also have to assume that they had brought up something in their own excuse, as indeed, according to Jerome, Advers. Pelagium 2. in quibusdam exemplaribus el maxime in Grœcis codicibus, they did, where we read respecting the apostles: “Et illi satisfaciebant, dicentes: sœculum istud iniquitatis et incredulitatis substantia est, quœ non sinit per immundos spiritus veram Dei apprehendi virtutem, idcirco, jam nunc revela justitiam tuam.” The internal improbability of this addition, however, strikes the eve at once, but it deserves note how precisely that part of the evening appearance, which John exclusively relates, reveals again entirely the spirit of this apostle, visibly alludes back to a part of the farewell discourse, and is related also with the contents of the Synoptical gospels, comp. Joh_20:21 with Mat_10:40; Luk_24:22 with Mat_10:21-22; and Luk_24:33 with Mat_28:18. The second greeting of peace which he mentions, Luk_24:21, we are to place after all related by Luke, and to regard as the beginning of the farewell which our Lord actually takes, with His command and His promise, Luk_24:21-23. Peace is, therefore, here in the fullest sense of the word the first, and peace the last tone of the harmonious Resurrection-bell.
Luk_24:44. And He said unto them.—So far to be parallelized with Mar_16:15-18 as this, that Luke, on his part also, adds immediately to the evening appearance some commands and promises of our Lord, which He uttered shortly before His departure, although it is undoubtedly possible that Luk_24:44-45, still belong to the history of the evening. Yet it is, in view of the intimate connection of the different elements of discourse, Luk_24:44-49, more probable that Luke here also already relates by anticipation what took place immediately before the farewell, comp. Act_1:4-8. Not that the whole didactic activity of the Risen One is, therefore, here described in general (Ebrard), but out of the rich treasure of the bequest of his Lord’s word, the third Evangelist also, on his part, communicates various things, without its being possible, in Luk_24:44-49), to show the place where a mention of the forty days, Act_1:3, had to be inserted. Whether Luke, however, in the Acts, followed another tradition than the gospel in respect to the conclusion of the history of Jesus’ life, we believe that we must doubt. At least we find in the two narratives of the Ascension not a single feature contradictory to other features. For the Evangelist certainly gives by no means assurance at the end of his first book that our Saviour went on the very day of His Resurrection to Heaven. He here leaves the time entirely unmentioned, while he in the second work gives more particular explanations thereupon.
These are My words.—A somewhat abrupt beginning, which, however, does not by any means allude back to what immediately precedes. Our Lord, on the other hand, holds here, before He parts from His disciples, a grand retrospective review of His now almost accomplished earthly career. Even in the last meeting He holds up before their eyes the mirror of the Scriptures, to which He had so often directed them, and speaks of the days when He was yet with them, as of a period forever closed, which should now no more be continued through bodily manifestations.
In the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms.—As our Lord previously also had not satisfied Himself with bringing up several times, out of different parts of the Scripture, particular prophecies, and even before His death had given testimony to the Old Testament as a whole, Mat_23:35, so does He here also bring up the three chief portions of the canon, in order to indicate therewith that He points to the Scripture in its unity. The Psalms are here named as the beginning of the Hagiographa, and, at the same time, as the portion which in this contains the directest Messianic elements, even as the prophets do, and these two are therefore joined together as one by the omission of an article between.
Luk_24:45. Then opened He.—As elsewhere in the Scriptures, so also in Luke, it is emphatically placed first, that not only the Scripture must be opened for the understanding, but also the understanding and the heart for the Scripture, in order to understand the truth aright. See Luk_24:32; Act_16:14; and comp. Eph_1:18. Whether the Evangelist means the mediate or immediate opening of the understanding cannot, in view of the brevity of the expression, possibly be decided; but, unquestionably, it was such an one as was brought into effect directly by the Risen One Himself. How necessary this was even to the apostles of the Lord had been sufficiently shown by their scandal at His death, and their unbelief as to His Resurrection. What fruits it bore is to be seen on the first Whit-sunday, and afterwards in their epistles. Had it been indubitably certain that Luke was relating something that belongs to the first evening, we should then, perhaps, be able to suppose that he has in mind the same symbolical act of our Lord which is described Joh_20:22. In view of the brevity and the fragmentariness of the sacred narrative, it is, however, difficult to state here anything trustworthy.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See on the parallels in Mark and in John.
2. The evening appearance gives us weighty information as to the corporeality of the Risen Redeemer. As is known, there has sometimes been ascribed to the Risen One a common human body, and everything which the sacred narratives contain that is mysterious surrounding His coming and going has been placed to the subjectivity of the Evangelists, and sometimes it has been asserted that He only showed Himself in a seeming body to His people (Kuhn, Marheinecke, Zeibig, and others). In opposition to both, this appearance especially gives us ground to assume that He bore a true but not common, a glorified, but not a merely seeming human investment; in a word, the same body, but with entirely different properties. In order to become acquainted with the nature of this His body, we are not, as so often is done, to apply our own conceptions of such a vehiculum as the standard of judging the evangelical narratives, but directly the reverse, to form our conception of a matter to us empirically entirely unknown, from and according to the evangelical narratives. The whole polemics of unbelief (e.g., Strauss, ii. p. 674) proceeds from the unprovable proposition that what holds good of a man not yet dead must also hold good of one risen. Precisely because here every analogy is wanting, it is also entirely inadmissible to borrow from our daily experience an argument against an account of an entirely unique condition. With greater right may we from the seeming contradictions of their statements, which we may well believe did not remain concealed from the Evangelists, thus derive an indirect argument for its strict objectivity. If we inquire, therefore, what conception we, according to their historically credible account, have to form of a glorified body, and especially of that of the Lord, we obtain about the following answer: It is palpable, not only as a whole, but also in its different parts; raised above space, so that it can in much shorter time than we transport itself from one locality to another; gifted with the capability, in subjection to a mightier will, of being sometimes visible, sometimes invisible. It bears the unmistakable traces of its former condition, but is at the same time raised above the confining limitations of this. It is, in a word, a spiritual body, no longer subject to the flesh, but filled, guided, borne by the spirit, and yet none the less a body. It can eat, but it no longer needs to eat (“Aliter absorbet terra aquam sitiens, aliter solis radiis candens,” Augustine, Ep. 49. “Cibo minime utebatur ad necessitatem, sed ut veritatem humanœ suœ naturœ suis comprobaret;” Zwingli, in Hist. Dom. Resurr. p. 60); it can reveal itself in one place, but is not bound to this one place; it can show itself within the sphere of this world, but is not limited to this sphere. Thus does the Resurrection of the body appear before us adorned with a threefold character of true freedom and beauty, and we are not surprised that with all the attractiveness of our Lord’s appearance to His people, yet, nevertheless, something mysterious respecting His personality hovered before their eyes, of which they were scarcely able to give an account to themselves, See, for instance, Joh_21:12.
3. Even so does the evening appearance deserve to be named a brilliant revelation of the inner life of the Risen One. There is a reflection of heavenly peace diffused over His whole being, and the comparison between the forty days of His second life and those of His temptation in the wilderness furnishes matter for a continuous antithesis. His whole previous life lies as a completed whole before His eyes, and the marks of the nails which He bears have become the honorable insignia of His love, and yet it is plainly shown that His word, “It is I Myself,” is, in the most extended sense of the word, true, and that death has indeed changed His condition, but not His heart. As the appearance at the Sea of Tiberias, Joh_21:1-14, shows a noticeable coincidence with the miraculous draft of fishes, Luk_5:1-11, so also does this evening appearance with the walking of our Lord at night upon the water of the sea, Joh_6:15-21. There also He finds His disciples terrified, but rejoices and composes them by lovingly assuring them of His nearness, and stills with a single word the storm which had risen in their heart. Just such appearances as this could afterwards give His witnesses the right to utter themselves in so decided a tone as Peter, e.g., Act_10:40-42.
4. Christian Anthropology has to thank this appearance of the Lord for declarations which confirm the specific distinction between spirit and body, define the conception of spirit, and raise above all doubt not only the objective, but also the subjective, identity of the man before and after his death.
5. In the Lord we behold the image of that perfection prepared beyond the grave for all His people, a peace subject to no disturbance, a glorified body that no longer checks the spirit, but serves it; a clear, yet no longer painful, recollection of the previous life, with its now accomplished conflict; a blessed fellowship and reunion with all who are here connected with us by bonds of the Spirit; an unimpeded continuation, for the glory of God, of the activity interrupted by death. This, and yet far more, which no eye hath seen and no ear hath heard, will the life of the Resurrection be for the subject and for the King of the Divine kingdom.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
And at evening time it shall be light, Zec_14:7.—The King of peace in the midst of unquiet subjects.—The Easter feast a feast of Peace.—How faith on the Risen One bestows peace: 1. In the doubting understanding; 2. in the disquiet of conscience; 3. in the sorrows of life; 4. in the fear of the future; 5. in the view of death.—Unbelief embitters to itself even the most exquisite hours of life.—How the Lord gradually lifts His people to the participation of His peace.—“It is I Myself:” 1. The Lord feels that He is the same; 2. He shows that He is the same; 3. He will as the same be recognized and honored by His own.—When the disciple of the Lord is doubtful, the Risen One still shows him His hands and His feet, nailed through for His everlasting salvation.—Not all unbelief is equally guilty.—“When I was yet with you,” the looking back out of the future into the present life.—The prophetic Scripture the best key: 1. To the enigma of the manifestation of Christ; 2. to the enigma of the life of the Christian.—As a whole will the Scripture be regarded and esteemed.—Not to isolate, but to combine, the way to the knowledge of the truth.—Our Lord: 1. Kindles the light for the eye; 2. opens the eye to the light.
Heubner:—Jesus Himself seeks out His disciples to strengthen them.—In reference to the realm of spirits, unbelief, superstition, and faith are to be carefully distinguished.—The Christian should be unterrified even amid the presentiments of a higher world.—The Lord will hereafter be yet recognizable even as Man.—The marks of Jesus’ wounds are fearful to His enemies, precious to His friends.—The difficulty of faith in Christ exalts its value and its power.—Christ’s love is not altered by His exaltation.—He received from them bodily food, and they receive spiritual food.—The Resurrection of Christ impresses on His words the seal of truth.—The understanding of Scripture is indispensable to religion.
On the Pericope.—Heubner:—The first evening which the Risen One spent in the midst of His disciples.—The blessed consequences of the Resurrection of Jesus to His disciples.—The certainty of the testimony of the disciples for the Resurrection of Jesus.—Arndt:—The Easter evening, what did it bring to the apostles? what did it bring to us all? 1. Full certainty; 2. deep peace; 3. apostolic power.—Palmer:—Our Lord’s: 1. Greeting; 2. commission; 3. promise (Joh_20:19-23).—Dietz:—What is the way in which one arrives at Easter peace?—Albrecht:—What the glorious gift of Christ has brought us with His Resurrection: 1. Peace before us; 2. within us; 3. among us; 4. around us.—Kraus-sold:—Where do we find the peace of God which the world cannot give?—Ahlfeld:—What the Lord has brought to His people from the grave: 1. Himself; 2. His peace; 3. the last seal of His Resurrection (comp. Joh_20:22).—Couard:—The blessed activity of the Risen One in the circle of His disciples.—Bobe:—Whereby do we attain to a blessed faith?—See further on Joh_20:19-23.
C. Over the Opposition of Israel and the Heathen World. (Intimated Luk_24:46-48)
46 And [He] said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to [written that the Christ should suffer and should20] rise from the dead the thirdday: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among48[or, for] all nations, beginning at [from] Jerusalem. And [om., And] ye are witnesses of these things,
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_24:46. And He said unto them.—In the organic articulation of this last chapter of Luke there is found a noteworthy climax. After he, in the narrative of the first Easter Message, has pointed us to the victory which the Risen One had accomplished over the might of sin and death, he has in a triad of appearances delineated the triumph which He celebrated over the doubt and unbelief of His first disciples. But the nearer the Lord comes to the final goal of His earthly manifestation, so much the more strongly does it come into view that the conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah is continually pressing forward ad altiora. It is true, His words only testify by intimations as to the victorious hope with which He casts a parting look upon the whole Jewish and heathen world before He bids His disciples the last farewell. Here also He begins with the mention of the word, in order then with a promise of the Spirit to conclude His meeting with His own and His instructions to them.
Thus it is written.—Yet once again a γέγραπται, as at the beginning of His first life. We might assume (Meyer) that ὅτι was meant to indicate the cause why He had opened their understanding (Luk_24:45), if here the thread joining the different elements were not so slack that it perhaps appears better not to undertake the stating of any connection. The mention of the Resurrection on the third day is perhaps an indirect proof that at least these words of our Lord were not uttered on the day of His Resurrection. Here also, as to the rest, as in Luk_24:26, and throughout the Apostolic writings, suffering and glory are inseparably joined together.
Luk_24:47. And that … should be preached, κηρυχθῆναι also depends upon γέγραπτι and sets forth to us the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles and Jews, as the fruit of the Divine predetermination and of the fulfilment of the prophecies. According to Matthew and Mark also, the Lord, upon His departure from the earth, gives a commission for a general preaching of the Gospel, but in Luke again it bears a peculiar character. It is, first of all, a κήρυγμα ἐπ̓ ὀνόματι Ἰησ., that is, a preaching which takes place on the basis of this name, and therefore borrows the significance and authority from Him in whose name and in whose commission it takes place. Withal it must proceed from Jerusalem, and from there spread itself over all the nations. Comp. Act_1:8. A proof of our Lord’s great love of sinners on the one hand, and of the world-vanquishing destiny of the Gospel on the other hand, and which in the broad Pauline Gospel of Luke stands surely in its just place. Finally, while elsewhere there is only mention of the Gospel in general, here in particular μετάνοια and ἅφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτ. are spoken of. Even as was the case with John the Baptist, and afterwards with the apostles, see Act_2:38; Act_3:19; Act_26:18.
Luk_24:48. Witnesses of these things.—Meyer, who here perhaps binds himself almost too strictly to the letter, insists on referring this τούτων not only to our Lord’s death and Resurrection, but also to the just-mentioned commission for the proclamation of the Gospel. But precisely because they were to carry out this latter they could not at the same time be witnesses thereof, and, strictly speaking, the Ascension of the Lord, which at this moment had not yet taken place, would have had then to remain excluded from their testimony. Nowhere are the apostles represented as witnesses of that which they themselves accomplished, but everywhere as witnesses of that which the Lord had done. Therefore, we think it is better to refer τούτων to all the here-named facts of the life of the Lord, which was concluded by His departure to the Father, the great centre of which was, however, the Resurrection, comp. Act_1:8; Act_1:22.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The preaching of the Gospel proceeding from Jerusalem directed to all nations, the fulfilment of the prophetic word, Psa_110:2; Isa_2:2-4; Mic_4:2-4.
2. The preaching of Repentance and Forgiveness most intimately connected together. The μετάνοια is an alteration of the inward disposition, which precedes πίστις, upon which latter the ἅφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτ. follows. The faith, however, in this latter, which is granted and received freely, must of itself lead to ἁγιασμός, the continuation of μετάνοια.
3. Christian missions here appear before our eyes as an institution of the Lord Himself, and as a holy vocation of the church. The apostles have not to remain at Jerusalem until the last Jew shall receive their testimony, but, on the other hand, after having there made the beginning, they must then as soon as possible extend as widely as possible the circle of their activity, and found the kingdom of God by means of their testimony. All which in the activity of supposed or real successors to the apostolic commission does not coincide with the actual witnessing function is here indirectly, but plainly enough excluded. Precisely, then, when the messengers of the Gospel are nothing more and nothing less than witnesses, do they walk in the footsteps of Him who Himself has been The Faithful Witness upon earth, Joh_20:22; 1Ti_6:13; Rev_1:5.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The institution of the preaching of the Gospel the last and noblest command of our Lord.—The command to begin the preaching of the Gospel at Jerusalem: 1. Surprising to the enemies; 2. beneficent for the friends of the Lord; 3. honorable for Himself.—This command a proof of: 1. The historical truth; 2. the heavenly origin; 3. the blessed goal of the Gospel.—As the Gospel proceeded from Jerusalem so will it return to Jerusalem.—Even yet the inner renewal must begin nowhere else than from the sinful Jerusalem in the heart.—The Commission for the preaching of the Gospel: 1. What must be preached? 2. in what name? 3. from whence? 4. how far abroad?—What the world owes to the last commandment of the Lord.—The preaching of the Lord a testimony: 1. Of Whom? 2. through Whom? 3. for Whom?
Starke:—Christ directs His disciples to the Scripture not less than His enemies.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Repentance, forgiveness, &c., the blessed fruits of Christ’s Resurrection.—Without repentance no forgiveness.—Osiander:—The apostles’ writings concerning Jesus are a genuine testimony, for they have testified to what they saw and heard, and, moreover, have received from heaven. Who, then, would not believe them?—Heubner:—The main substance of the Christian preaching is Repentance, and Forgiveness of sins.—The Risen One is Lord of the earth.—Whoever gainsays the apostles gainsays Jesus.
Footnotes:
[15]Luk_24:36.—The ̔Ιησοῦς of the ‘Recepta, accepted even by Scholz, is omitted by some authorities, by others placed aftor ε͂στη. An explicative addition, occasioned by the beginning of a lesson.
[16]Luk_24:36.—There is no ground for regarding this Easter greeting of the Lord, with Tischendorf, as not genuine. What Lachmann, however, has bracketed, ἐγώ εἰμι, μὴ φοβεῖσθε, a reading of G., P., &c, appears to have been taken from Joh_6:20.
[17]Luk_24:38.—̓Εν τῆ καρδία. Internally more probable reading of Lachmann and Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford,) after B., D., Itala. [Cod. Sin. agrees with the Recepta.—C. C. S.]
[18]Luk_24:40.—Tischendorf omits this verse, on the authority of D. and some Versions. Tregelles brackets it. Meyer suspects it of being, as well as κ.λ.α. Εἰρ. ὑμ. in Luk_24:36, an interpolation from Joh_20:19-20. Alford retains it, remarking with force, that if it were interpolated from John we should certainly have in some MSS. πλευραν instead of ποδας, either here only or in Luk_24:39 also.—C. C. S.]
[19]Luk_24:44.—Οἰ λόγοι μου. Tischendorf, according to A., D., K., L., U., [X.,] 33, Coptic, Cant., &c.
[20]Luk_24:46.—According to the reading of Tischendorf, οὓτως γέγραπται παθεῖν, κ.τ.λ., [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford. Lachmann brackets the suspected words.—C. C. S.] The addition of the Recepta: καὶ οὕτως ἕδει, appears to have been interpolated for the sake of perspicuity, and is wanting in B., C.1, D., [Cod. Sin.,] L., Coptic, Æthiopian, Itala, &c.
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 vv36, 37, 39 JESUS APPEARS TO THE ASSEMBLED DISCIPLES--HIS ASCENSION. (Luke 24:36-53)
JESUS APPEARS TO THE ASSEMBLED DISCIPLES--HIS ASCENSION. (Luke 24:36-53)
Jesus . . . stood--(See on Joh 20:19).
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 vv36, 39 36. Stood in the midst of them—There he was.…
36. Stood in the midst of them—There he was. Could they doubt their own sight?
And saith—It is his voice; can they doubt their own hearing?
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Peace be unto you—Words how like him! The spirit in the voice stronger proof than the voice itself. Harriet Martineau in her better days, when writing an imaginative narrative of our Saviour’s times, reverently abstained from putting words of her own devising into his mouth. But when the simple Evangelist makes him speak, it is the same Jesus himself.
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 vv36–40 36-49. Appearance of Jesus to the Apostles.
36-49. Appearance of Jesus to the Apostles.
36. stood in the midst of them] The words imply a sudden appearance. The Eleven, with the exception of Thomas the Twin, were sitting at supper with the doors closed through their fear of the Jews (Joh_20:19). This is one of the most remarkable appearances of the Risen Christ. His intercourse with them on this occasion consisted of a greeting (Luk_24:36); a reproach and consolation (Luk_24:38; Mar_16:14); a demonstration of the reality of His person (Luk_24:39-43; Joh_20:20); an opening of their understandings (Luk_24:44-46); an appointment of the Apostles to the ministries of remission and witness (Luk_24:47-48; Joh_19:21; Joh_19:23); a promise of the Spirit, for the fulfilment of which they were to wait in Jerusalem (Luk_24:49). At the close of this great scene He once more pronounced the benediction of Peace, and breathed on them with the words ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (Joh_20:22). It is doubtless the extreme fulness with which St Luke has narrated this appearance which led him in accordance with his economy of method to omit some of the other appearances.
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 vv36–39 (36) Jesus himself stood in the midst of them.—The…
(36) Jesus himself stood in the midst of them.—The account agrees with that in Joh_20:19, who adds the fact that the doors of the room had been closed for fear of the Jews. The mode of appearance in both Gospels suggests the idea, as in Luk_24:31, of new conditions of existence, exempted from the physical limitations of the natural body, and shadowing forth the “spiritual body” of 1Co_15:44. It may be noted, however, that there had been time for the journey from Emmaus without assuming more than the ordinary modes of motion.
Peace be unto you.—The words do not appear elsewhere as addressed by our Lord to His disciples, but they were, as we find in Mat_10:12, Luk_10:5, identical with the customary salutation of the Jews, so that we may fairly assume that here also the familiar words, as before the familiar act, were meant to help the disciples to recognise His presence. St. John records (Joh_20:19) the same salutation at the same interview.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv36–40 Vers. 36-49. The Lord appears to the apostles as…
Vers. 36-49. The Lord appears to the apostles as they were gathered together on the evening of the first Easter Day.
And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. St. John, who also gives an account of this appearance of the Risen, adds the detail, "when the doors were shut." The eleven and their friends were gathered together for counsel, probably too in hope that something more would happen after what had already taken place that Easter Day the report of the holy women of the repeated vision of angels, their own verification of the empty sepulchre, and above all the testimony of Peter that he had seen the Lord. Into this anxious, waiting assembly the two "Emmaus" disciples enter with their wondrous story. In the act of their mentally comparing notes, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. This sudden presence there is evidently supernatural. He "stood in the midst of them," though the doors were carefully closed and barred "for fear of the Jews" Rumours of the Resurrection, no doubt, had already spread through the city, and it was uncertain whether such turnouts might not be followed by the arrest of the chief followers of the Crucified. Peace be unto you. This was the ordinary Jewish greeting, but on this occasion, spoken by the Lord, possessed more than the ordinary meaning. This "peace" was his solemn, comforting greeting to his own, just as "his peace" which he left with them on the sad Thursday eve was his solemn farewell to the eleven, spoken, perhaps, in the same "upper room just before he went out to the garden of the agony.
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Vers. 36-43. Christ and his Church.
I THE CHURCH. It is found in miniature in the upper room eleven, and them that were with them.
1. Its separation. It is isolated from the outer world. A new bond, a new manner, of union is already realized. It is not of the world, as Christ himself was not. There is a door shut between the little flock and the Jews. A supreme attraction to him whom the world sees not, an affiance of soul of which the world knows not, unites the company, and, in thus uniting, separates it. It has a secret with which the world does not intermeddle.
2. Its unity.
(1) That stands in Christ, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you". (Joh_15:16) The Church is not a mere voluntary association; it is a spiritual organism rooted and grounded in the Man Christ Jesus in what he is and has done, in his Divine-human Person, and the orifices which he executes as Redeemer.
(2) It is realized through continuance in the apostles" doctrine and fellowship. "The eleven, and those with them." Christ had looked through the ages down to the end of the time, and thus had spoken: "I pray for those who shall believe on me through the word of the men whom thou didst give me." Here the eleven form the centre of the company. There is a definite word on which the Church is built. It has not a mere collection of" memoranda;" it is not an institution of "hazy outlines." It has a distinct testimony that of the apostles and prophets. And there is a social life, a fellowship, by which it "makes increase to self-edifying in love the fellowship which continues that which is witnessed to in the assembly of the eleven and those with them. Remember, it is fellowship, all holding themselves to be fellows in Christ, exchanging their experiences, imparting the gift which each has received, that it may tend to quicken the faith and love of all "As they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst" (ver. 36).
II CHRIST. He had promised, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Behold the fulfilment and the way of the fulfilment of this promise. Behold him present in his Church.
1. The sovereignty of the presence. On a sudden he stands in the midst. They are not expecting him. He comes through barred doors. It is the day of his power. Christ prescribes means; he ordains channels of grace; and, where there is the obedience of faith in the use of the means, there is blessing. "Where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them." But in all that speaks of spiritual life, there is the witness for a spiritual sovereignty, for reserves of power in the hands of the Lord himself. The new birth is a secret and a surprise. (Joh_3:7, Joh_3:8)
2. It is the personal Jesus who is present to bless Jesus himself. " (Ver. 36) Above and beyond the mere teaching and fellowship, there is the Lord. Christianity is Christ. The full blessing, that which wholly fills the soul, is himself in felt relation with each self. "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, Redemption". (1Co_1:30)
3. The announcement of the presence is peace. (Ver. 36) One of the last words before he suffered was "peace." It was the legacy of the dying Saviour. The salutation of the risen Saviour is, "Peace to you! the customary salutation transformed and glorified. His immanence in the Church is evidenced by the breathing of peace over human souls. "Peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ;" "The peace of God which passeth all understanding.
4. The complete benediction of the presence.
(1) Fears and doubts are scattered. The disciples are terrified and affrighted (ver. 37). They are afraid at his tokens. Scepticisms reassert themselves. A Church, a Christian, wanting in spiritual enthusiasm, with a low spiritual temperature, is subject to the fogs of doubt. Its action is crippled by a subtle scepticism. When he is realized as truly in the midst, the fogs are dispelled. There is a counteracting why (ver. 38). In the psalms (Ps 42) the soul, dark-and doubtful, asks, "Why hast thou forgotten me?" Its questioning is dispelled through another why: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" The blessed Jesus-question to poor confused humanity is, "Why art thou troubled? and why do thoughts arise in thy heart?" As the Sun of Righteousness shines into the soul, the melancholy, perplexing thoughts scatter, the clouds whose banks lie so low on the heart"s horizon flee away.
(2) The evidence of the sacrifice establishes the faith. (Vers. 39, 40) He shows the pierced hands and feet the wounds whence comes the healing, the death whence has come the life. And, even in the glory into which he has entered, the print of the nails is seen. The gaze of the redeemed who share that glory is ever towards the Lamb that was slain. "Worthy is the Lamb!
(3) The full revelation is the Divine humanity. (Vers. 41-43) While they believe, and yet can scarcely believe, for the joy seems too great and too wonderful, he eats the fish and honeycomb before them. It is no ghost who is in that room; it is very man of very man. And this is the abiding consciousness and strength of the Church. It presents the true humanity. It has the true humanitarianism. The Christ is he "who liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore." And in him humanity is fulfilled, represented, and redeemed. This is the truth of the social life of the Church. The Church is not a mere institute for instruction and worship; it is a social state built up in the ever-abiding humanity of Jesus Christ. Thus, in the upper room at Jerusalem, on the first Easter night, there is an apocalypse of the great mystery, Christ and the Church.
The peace of Christ.
It is true that these words, "Peace be unto you!" were the ordinary Jewish salutation. But remembering that our Lord used these words a second time in this interview, (see Joh_20:21) and having in mind the way in which he made these words his own, and gave to them not merely a formal but a profound significance, (Joh_14:27) we may find much meaning in them. We recognize the fact that they were
I SPECIALLY APPROPRIATE TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES. The minds of his apostles had passed through the deepest distress. They had lost their Lord and their Friend; and with him they had lost, as they thought, their cause and their hopes; they were, therefore, afflicted with an overwhelming grief. And now they were filled with the liveliest agitation. They were in a mental state in which blighted hopes were struggling with darkest fears; their soul was stirred to its very depths; and what, above all things, they needed was One that could come and say, "Peace be unto you!" It was the very word that was wanted to be breathed into their ear, to be spoken to their heart.
II ADMIRABLY DESCRIPTIVE OF HIS ABIDING MISSION. It is true that Jesus once said, "I came not to send peace, but a sword." But it will be found, on referring, that then he simply meant to say that division and strife would be an inevitable incident of the course of his gospel; he did not mean that this was its deep purpose or its long and last result. It was the back-water, and not the main current, of the truth he preached. Christ came to give peace to a world profoundly disturbed and disquieted by sin. "Come unto me," he said," and I will give you rest." Not as the world gives rest or peace does he give.
(1) Not mere comfort or gratification that is very short-lived;
(2) nor satisfaction that is based on ignorance of ourselves, and must before long be exposed;
(3) nor the quiet of indifference or unbelief that must soon be broken up. Not of this order is the peace of Christ. It is:
1. Rest to the burdened conscience. lie shows us our sin and makes us ashamed of it; he fills our heart with a true and righteous sorrow for it; he awakes within us a just and honourable concern for the consequences of it. And then he offers himself as the One who bore the burden upon himself, through whom we may find forgiveness and acceptance. And "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Abiding gladness to the hungering heart. "In the world" is unsatisfiedness of soul, emptiness and heartache; a sense of disappointment. But in him is a true and lasting satisfaction. "How happily the days in his blest service fly!" To live heartily and wholly unto him who loved us and gave himself for us, to expend our powers in his praise and in his service, this is the secret of lifelong peace. All the lower springs will fail, but this never. To "lose our life" unto him is to "find it" and to keep it for ever.
3. Comfort to the troubled spirit. When darkness falls upon the path, when losses come, when bereavement makes a gap in the home and in the heart, when some heavy disappointment blights the prospect, then the felt presence, the realized sympathy, and the unfailing succour of that Divine Friend give a peace which is deeper than our disturbance, a thrice-blessed calm to the tempest-tossed soul.
4. Peace in death. For many centuries the dying have departed in peace because they have hoped for everything through the Divine Saviour; they have calmly "slept in Jesus;" and those who now look forward to death as a passage through which they will be passing can find no better wish or prayer than that "the music of his Name" may "refresh their soul in death. C.
Vers. 36-53. Infallible proofs and inevitable partings.
The Emmaus pilgrims have hardly entered the upper room and reported their interview with Jesus, receiving the intelligence that perplexed Peter has got his perplexity resolved, when, notwithstanding that the doors are barred for fear of the Jews, the Risen One appears in the midst of them, and says, "Peace be unto you!" They are at first terrified at such an advent, seeing that it sets aside the ordinary laws of matter, and shows all precaution unavailing when Jesus is determined to get in. But he soon disabuses their minds and.dismisses their troubles. Although he can get through barred doors, he is not a disembodied spirit, but a Person with flesh and bones. This he proceeds to demonstrate to their sense-perceptions. Having given them infallible proofs, he next proceeds to expound the Scriptures in detail to them, just as he had done on the way to Emmaus. On these sure foundations he bases their faith, and sends them forth, commissioned to preach repentance and remission of sins. He concludes his interview with the promise of the Father, for which they were to wait at Jerusalem after his visible ascension. And so he is carried up to heaven from Bethany, and the disciples return to wait at Jerusalem in joy until they receive power from on high. And here we have to notice
I THE MESSAGE OF THE RISEN SAVIOUR TO DISTRACTED SOULS IS PEACE. The salutation of the East received new depth and meaning when employed by the risen Saviour, when for the first time he appeared among his assembled disciples. He only could pacify them. He is the same "Peacemaker" still. It is his advent which drives away distractions, and secures a peace which passeth all understanding.
II THE RISEN JESUS SUPPLIES INFALLIBLE PROOFS OF HIS RESURRECTION TO THE PACIFIED DISCIPLES. When pacified by him, they were then fitted for judgment. To place the proofs before worldly, distracted souls would have been throwing pearls before swine.It is before the disciples whose fears have been dispelled that he places the proofs. He urges calm investigation. Here are his hands and feet and side. Handle him, use sense-perception to the utmost. Make out that he has a body, and the same one which was crucified. Their joy at the proofs overpowered them for the moment, so that they could hardly credit it. Then he asked them for meat, and was content to eat before them a piece of a broiled fish. The honeycomb addition is not supported by the best manuscripts, and has been omitted in the Revised Version. The last doubt must depart before such proofs. It is the same Saviour who had been crucified, and he is among them in a body, able to partake of food, and perform all the functions assigned to a body dominated by a healthy spirit. Now, although we cannot see or handle the Risen One, we have yet the evidence of his Resurrection so set before us that only criminal partiality can resist it. Dr. Arnold, so accomplished a historian, declares that there is no fact of history sustained by better evidence. If we made sure of impartial and fearful minds to begin with, the infallible proofs would be recognized in their full power.
III THE RISEN SAVIOUR HELPS HIS SERVANTS TO UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES. We learn from John"s account that "he breathed on them," and so conveyed to them the Holy Ghost. Along with the outward exposition, therefore, of the Scripture references to himself, there is given the inward inspiration. It is this which made these men such masters of the sacred oracles so far as they indicate Christ"s mission. With opened understandings, with inspired hearts, the once sealed book became an open secret, and the fountain-head of missionary enterprise. And the witnesses need similar enlightenment still. By waiting on the Master prayerfully and studiously we shall obtain the key to interpretation, and have the fairy palaces unlocked for us.
IV A GOSPEL OF REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF SINS OF A UNIVERSAL CHARACTER IS TO BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME. For Christ comes to make men sorry for their sins, while at the same time they enjoy the sense of their pardon. As risen Saviour, he is the outward Guarantee of our justification from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses. He was "delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification". (Rom_4:25) And to these benefits all nations are to have access. The proofs of resurrection, the understanding of the Scriptures, and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, were with a view to a practical issue in the publication of glad tidings to all nations.
V POWER IS GUARANTEED IF THEY WAIT PRAYERFULLY AT JERUSALEM. They had got the Spirit as zephyr-breath. They had still to get him in Pentecostal and fiery power. Hence they are encouraged by the Lord to wait for this at Jerusalem, for work without spiritual power would be useless. And they waited, and were made world-conquerors by the gift of power. So ought the Lord"s people to wait for power still.
VI THE ASCENSION WAS THE NECESSARY COMPLEMENT OF RESURRECTION, AND THE GUARANTEE OF ULTIMATE VICTORY. We have already seen reason for believing that, on the day of resurrection, Jesus privately ascended to the Father, reported himself there, and made heaven his head-quarters during "the great forty days." But a public ascension before the assembled disciples was necessary to establish their faith and joy. And so they were permitted to see their beloved Lord ascending, in spite of gravitation, up into the blue heavens, and speeding towards the centre of the universe at the right hand of God. Yet the inevitable separation did not prevent them from returning to Jerusalem with great joy, and continuing there until the Pentecost. They divided their time between the upper room and the temple. They waited in joyful anticipation of the promised power, and they got it in due season. And the Ascension ought to be to all believers a matter of definite experience. It is to this St. Paul refers when he speaks, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, of being "raised up together with Christ, anti made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." There is an ascension-experience as well as a resurrection-experience an experience in which we feel that we have risen superior to all earthly attractions, and that we, setting our affections, indeed, on things above, are sitting by faith among them with our Lord. It is this ecstatic state which heralds the advent of spiritual power. May it belong to all of us! R.M.E.
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 v36 Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them
Luk_24:36-49
Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them
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The first appearance of the risen Lord to the eleven
I.
THE CERTAINTY OF OUR LORDS RESURRECTION. No fact in history is better attested.
1. Observe, that when this person appeared in the room, the first token that it was Jesus was His speech: they were to have the evidence of hearing: He used the same speech. No sooner did He appear than He spoke. His first accents must have called to their minds those cheering notes with which He had closed His last address. They must have recognized that charming voice. He was a peace-maker, and a peace-giver, and by this sign they were given to discern their Leader. I want you to notice that this evidence was all the better, because they themselves evidently remained the same men as they had been. They were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit; and thus they did exactly what they had done long before when He came to them walking on the waters. They are not carried away by enthusiasm, nor wafted aloft by fanaticism; they are not even as yet upborne by the Holy Spirit into an unusual state of mind, but they are as slow of heart and as fearful as ever they were. If they are convinced that Jesus has risen from the dead, depend upon it, it must be so.
2. Thus far in the narrative they had received the evidence of their ears, and that is by no means weak evidence; but now they are to have the evidence of sight; for the Saviour says to them, Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; and when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet. John says also His side, which he specially noted because he had seen the piercing of that side, and the outflow of blood and water. They were to see and identify that blessed Body which had suffered death.
3. Furthermore, that they might be quite sure, the Lord invited them to receive the evidence of touch or feeling. He called them to a form of examination, from which, I doubt not, many of them shrank; He said, Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. The saints are not at the coming of their Lord to remain disembodied spirits, nor to wear freshly created bodies, but their entire manhood is to be restored, and to enjoy endless bliss. It will be of a material substance also; for our Saviours Body was material, since He said, Handle Me, and see that it is I Myself; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.
4. Still further to confirm the faith of the disciples, and to show them that their Lord had a real Body, and not the mere form of one, He gave them evidence which appealed to their common sense. He said, Have ye any meat; and they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before them. This was an exceedingly convincing proof of His unquestionable resurrection. In very deed and fact, and not in vision and phantom, the Man who had died upon the cross stood among them.
II. OUR LORDS CHARACTER WHEN RISEN FROM THE DEAD.
1. Notice, first, that in this appearance of Christ we are taught that He is still anxious to create peace in the hearts of His people. No sooner did He make Himself visible than He said, Peace be unto you. He has not lost His tender care ever the least of the flock; He would have each one led by the still waters, and made to lie down in green pastures.
2. Note again, that He has not lost His habit of chiding unbelief, and encouraging faith; for as soon as He has risen, and speaks with His disciples, He asks them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? He loves you to believe in Him, and be at rest.
3. Notice, next, that when the Saviour had risen from the dead, and a measure of His glory was upon Him, He was still most condescendingly familiar with His people. He showed them His hands and His feet, and He said, Handle Me, and see.
4. The next thing is that the risen Lord was still wonderfully patient, even as He had always been. He bore with their folly and infirmity; for while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He did not chide them.
5. Observe that our Saviour, though He was risen from the dead, and therefore in a measure in His glory, entered into the fullest fellowship with His own. Peter tells us that they did eat and drink with Him. I do not notice in this narrative that He drank with them, but He certainly ate of such food as they had, and this was a clear token of His fellowship with them.
6. Let me call your attention to the fact that when Jesus had risen from the dead, He was just as tender of Scripture as He was before His decease.
7. Once again, our Saviour, after He had risen from the dead, showed that He was anxious for the salvation of men; for it was at this interview that
He breathed upon the apostles, and bade them receive the Holy Ghost, to fit them to go forth and preach the gospel to every creature.
III. The light which is thrown by this incident upon THE NATURE OF OUR OWN RESURRECTION.
1. First, I gather from this text that our nature, our whole humanity, will be perfected at the day of the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we that may then be alive shall be changed. Jesus has redeemed not only our souls, but our bodies.
2. I gather next that in the resurrection our nature will be full of peace. Jesus Christ would not have said, Peace be unto you, if there had not been a deep peace within Himself. Be was calm and undisturbed. There was much peace about His whole life; but after the resurrection His peace becomes very conspicuous. There is no striving with scribes and Pharisees, there is no battling with anybody after our Lord is risen. Such shall be our life, we shall be flooded with eternal peace, and shall never again be tossed about with trouble, and sorrow, and distress, and persecution.
3. When we rise again our nature will find its home amid the communion of saints. When the Lord Jesus Christ had risen again His first resort was the room where His disciples were gathered. His first evening was spent among the objects of His love. Even so, wherever we are we shall seek and find communion with the saints.
4. Furthermore, I see that in that day our bodies will admirably serve our spirits. For look at our Lords Body. Now that He has risen from the dead He desires to convince His disciples, and His Body becomes at once the means of His argument, the evidence of His statement. His flesh and bones were text and sermon for Him.
5. In that day, beloved, when we shall rise again from the dead we shall remember the past. Do you not notice how the risen Saviour says, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you. He had not forgotten His former state. It is rather a small subject, and probably we shall far more delight to dwell on the labours of our Redeemers hands and feet; but still we shall remember all the way whereby the Lord our God led us, and we shall talk to one another concerning it.
6. Observe that our Lord, after He had risen from the dead, was still full of the spirit of service, and therefore He called others out to go and preach the gospel, and He gave them the Spirit of God to help them. When you and I are risen from the dead, we shall rise full of the spirit of service. He will use us in the grand economy of future manifestations of His Divine glory. Possibly we may be to other dispensations what the angels have been to this. Be that as it may, we shall find a part of our bliss and joy in constantly serving Him who has raised us from the dead. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A Divine visitation
I. WHEN HE APPEARED.
1. When they had been acting unworthily by fleeing from Him at His betrayal, and deserting Him at His trial.
2. When they were unprepared, and unbelieving, doubting His express promise, and refusing the testimony of His messengers.
3. When they greatly needed His presence, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.
4. When they were exercising the little life they had by coming together in loving assembly. So far they were doing well, and acting in a way which was likely to bring blessing.
5. When they were lamenting His absence, and thus proving their desire after Him. This is an admirable means of gaining His presence.
6. When certain among them were testifying concerning Him. Are not we in a similar condition? May we not hopefully look for our Lords manifestation of Himself?
II. WHAT HE SAID. Peace be unto you.
1. It was a benediction: He wished them peace,
2. It was a declaration: they were at peace with God.
3. It was a fiat; He inspired them with peace.
4. It was an absolution: He blotted out all offences which might have spoiled their peace.
III. WHAT CAME OF HIS APPEARING.
1. He banished their doubts. Even Thomas had to shake off his obstinate unbelief.
2. He revealed and sealed His love upon their hearts by showing them His hands and His feet.
3. He refreshed their memories. These are the words which I spoke unto you (Luk_24:44).
4. He opened their understandings (Luk_24:45).
5. He showed them their position. Ye are witnesses of these things (Luk_24:48).
6. He filled them with joy (Joh_20:20).
Peace be unto you.--
Peace bestowed upon man
I. Notice the nature of the blessing which the Lord Jesus proclaims. It is the blessing of Peace.
II. We observe the peculiar connection which the Redeemer implies this blessing to possess with Himself. He comes to them as the author of peace: and the peace which He wishes for them, He Himself gives.
1. Let it be considered that reconciliation with God arises wholly and exclusively from the sacrificial efficacy of the Saviours sufferings.
2. Not only is reconciliation secured entirely by the sacrificial efficacy of His sufferings, but from the Lord Jesus Christ proceeds the mission of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to apply actually to men the various blessings of redemption.
III. The animating influence which the Lord Jesus designs a participation of this blessing to exercise over all those by whom it is enjoyed.
1. The possession of this spiritual peace is designed to act as a preservative against temptation.
2. As designed to be a consolation amidst sorrow.
3. As designed to be an incentive to activity.
4. As an exciting cause of gratitude. (J. Parsons.)
The timely presence and salutation of Jesus
I. With reference to THE CHARACTER OF THE VISIT we may remark, that the visits which Christ makes to His Churches are of two kinds. He sometimes comes in anger, to chastise them. In this manner He threatened to visit some of the Asiatic Churches. At other times He visits His Churches in a gracious manner, to comfort, animate, and bless them. This is evident, in the first place, from the language in which He addressed them; Peace be with you. This was no mere formal greeting on His lips, but the expression of a genuine desire for their welfare. Nay, more; it was an assurance that peace existed between God and them. Nor was this all: it was also the bestowment of His peace upon them.
II. THE TIME WHEN THIS GRACIOUS VISIT WAS MADE.
1. It was made at a time when the disciples were exceedingly unworthy of such a favour, and when they rather deserved to have been visited in anger. They had treated Him in a very unkind and ungrateful manner.
2. It was made at a time when the Church was very imperfectly prepared for it, and when very few among them expected it, or had any hope of such a favour.
3. The time when Christ made this gracious visit to His Church was a time in which it was very much needed. The faith, and hope, and courage of its members were reduced to the lowest point of depression, and unless revived by His presence, must soon have expired.
4. This visit was made at a time when the Church was employed in exerting the little life which yet remained among them, and in using proper means to increase it. Though assembling at this time was dangerous, so that they did not dare to meet openly, yet they did assemble, and they assembled in the character of Christs disciples. This proved the existence of a bond of union among them, which drew them together. This bond of union consisted in sympathy of feeling. They all felt the same affections, the same apprehensions and anxieties, and the same sorrows, and all their thoughts centred in one object. This object was their crucified Master.
5. The gracious visit appears to have been made the very first time that the Church met after Christs resurrection. This circumstance is highly indicative of His affection for them, of His unwillingness to leave them mourning one moment longer than was necessary, and of His strong desire to be again in the midst of them. We remark lastly, that this gracious visit was made on the Lords day. And the next visit which He made to His
Church was made on the next Lords day. My brethren, should He not favour us with His presence on this occasion, let us consider this evil as the cause of His absence, and set ourselves to remove it without delay. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The mission and equipment of the disciples
I. THE SALUTATION--Peace be unto you. These words were, no doubt, meant to allay the fears which were then agitating the disciples minds. In themselves they were fitted to bare this effect, as showing the spirit and purpose with which He had come among them. But they were also, and still more, fitted to have this effect, because of what they brought to their remembrance. They were, in fact, like His wounds, signs by which they might identify the risen Lord. The twofold utterance of this salutation is not with out significance. As Luke tells us, The disciples had beheld, touched, and gladly received their rebuke; but there is again a wondering among them before the final clear and tranquil assurance fills their hearts. As before through fear, so now through astonished joy, they cannot altogether and fully believe. Their joy, though it has actual faith in it, does not reach to peace and joy combined in their fulness. It has in its first vehemence and disquietude too little peace. It is a violent joy, in which, notwithstanding its semblance of overpowering feeling, a deep and firm faith can scarcely fix its roots. Therefore the wise and patient Master gradually brings them to the peace of faith. But we unduly limit the significance and scope of these words, if we view them only as designed to remove the fears of the disciples. Rather are we to regard them as the salutation which His resurrection brings to those for whom He died--the message borne by His wounds to all who look to Him for salvation. This resurrection as plainly as His advent proclaims, peace on earth and goodwill to men.
II. THE SENDING--As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. This was fitly preceded by the salutation, inasmuch as the man who is to be the herald of peace to others needs to enjoy peace himself. How great the honour which He puts upon His servants in thus comparing their mission with His own! And we offer the following remarks, not as exhaustive, but only as possible helps to the interpretation:
1. That they are, in some measure, to represent Him before men even as He represented the Father, giving men, both by their life and their teaching, a representation of His character, so as to enable them to form a conception of what He was. Such was unquestionably their calling. They were to be living epistles of Christ. He was to live in them.
2. That they receive authority from Him in some measure, as He received authority from His Father. They speak in His name, as He spoke in His Fathers name. They do His works, as He did the works of His Father.
3. That they are to be His messengers to mankind, as He was the Fathers messenger, taking up and publishing among the nations the gospel which He first proclaimed.
4. That they are to prosecute their work in the same spirit as He did--a spirit of self-denial and benevolence, seeking not their own gratification, but the glory of God and the salvation of men.
5. That they must seek to do their work by the same instrumentality--not with carnal weapons, but by the spiritual forces which are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds--not depending on human might or power, but on the Spirit of the Lord of hosts.
6. That they are to be in the world as He was--in it, though not of it--seeking no portion in it, nor making it their rest--desirous of remaining in it only while they have work to do--glad to leave it when their work is done. Such are some of the things which may be implied in their being sent by Him as He was sent by the Father.
III. THE ENDOWMENT--He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
IV. THE MOMENTOUS WORK TO BE DONE--Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (W. Landels.)
Behold My hands and My feet
Jesus on the evening of Easter Day
I. Here we note first of all our LORDS INDULGENT TREATMENT OF MISTAKES AND IMPERFECTIONS IN RELIGIOUS BELIEF. We may venture to say that the disciples, seeing our Lord in the midst of them, ought to have recognized Him at once. They knew, from long companionship with Him, that there were no discoverable limits to His power over life and nature. That our Lord held His disciples responsible for such knowledge as this is plain from the words which He had used, earlier in the afternoon, when addressing the two on the Emmaus road; and from St. Mark we learn that on this occasion, too, He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart. Yet, looking to St. Lukes report, what tender censure it is! Here certainly is no expression which betrays grief or anger. He meets their excitement with the mildest rebuke--if it be a rebuke. Why are ye disquieted? and why do critical reasonings arise in your hearts? He traces their trouble of heart to its true source--the delusion which possessed their understandings about His being only a spirit. In His tenderness He terms their unworthy dread a mere disquietude of the heart; they are on a false track, and He will set them right. What a lesson is here for all who, whether as fathers and mothers, or teachers, or clergymen, have upon their hands the immense responsibility of imparting religious truth to others! The first condition of successful teaching is patient sympathy with the difficulties of the learner. A great master was once asked, What is the first condition of successful teaching? Patience, he said. What is the second? Patience. What is the third? He paused, then said, Sympathy. And what a rebuke is here on the want of considerateness, of courtesy, of generosity, which so often disfigures our modern treatment of real or supposed religious error! Who can wonder at our failures to convince, when our methods are so unlike that of the Great Teacher!
II. Here, too, we see OUR LORDS SANCTION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF INQUIRY INTO THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR RELIGIOUS BELIEF. Undoubtedly the understanding has great and exacting duties towards Revealed Truth. If God speaks, the least that His rational creatures can do is to try to understand Him. And therefore, as the powers of the mind gradually unfold themselves, the truths of religion ought to engage an increasing share of each of them, and not least of the understanding. What too often happens is, that while a young mans intelligence is interesting itself more and more in a widening circle of subjects, it takes no account of religion. The old childish thoughts about religion lie shrivelled up in some out-of-the-way corner of a powerful and accomplished mind, the living and governing powers of which are engaged in other matters. Then, the man for the first time in his life meets with some sceptical book; and he brings to bear on it the habits of thought and judgment which have been trained in the study of widely different matters. He forms, he can form, no true estimate of a subject, so unlike any he has really taken in hand before: he is at the mercy of his new instructor, since he knows nothing that will enable him to weigh the worth or the worthlessness of startling assertions. He makes up his mind that science has at length spoken on the subject of religion; and he turns his back, with a mingled feeling of irritation and contempt, on the truths which he learned at his mothers knee. This is no imaginary case; and among the reasons which go to explain so sad a catastrophe, this, I say, is one; that the understanding has not been properly developed in the boy and the young man, with relation to religious truth. What is the law of that development? It is this: that as the mind grows, it learns to reinforce the teaching of authority by the inquiries of reverent reason. But do not suppose that, because it condescends to be thus tested by your understanding as regards its reality, it is therefore within the compass of your understanding as regards its scope. It begins with that which you can appraise; it ends in that which is beyond you: because while you are finite and bounded in your range of vision, it is an unveiling of the Infinite, of the Incomprehensible.
III. Once more, NOTE HERE THE DIRECTION WHICH OUR LORD PURPOSELY GAVE TO THE THOUGHTS OF HIS PERPLEXED DISCIPLES. He does not turn them in upon themselves; He does not take their trouble, so to speak, sympathetically to pieces, and deal with its separate elements; He does not refute one by one the false reasonings which arise within them. He does not say to them, These disquietudes, these doubts, are mere mental disorders, or interesting experiences, and the mind itself can cure diseases which the mind has produced. He would, on the contrary, have them escape from themselves; from the thick jungle of their doubts and fears and hopes and surmises: and come to Him. Whatever they may think, or feel; He is there, seated on a throne which enthusiasm did not raise, and which doubt cannot undermine; in His own calm, assured, unassailable Life. Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see; for a mere spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. Let us remind ourselves that whether we believe them or not, the facts of the Christian creed are true; and that faith only receives, but that it cannot possibly create or modify Christ and His gifts. Whether men believe or not in His eternal person, in the atoning virtue of His death, in the sanctifying influences of His Spirit, in the invigorating grace of His sacraments--these are certain truths. They are utterly independent of the hesitations and vacillations of our understandings about them. To ourselves, indeed, it is of great moment whether we have faith or not: to Him, to His truth, to His gifts, it matters not at all. The Lord sitteth above this waterflood of our changing and inconstant mental impressions; the Lord remaineth a King for ever. If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (Canon Liddon.)
The reality of the resurrection
I. THE NATURE OF OUR LORDS RISEN BODY. It was the Body which had been born of the Virgin Mary, and had been nailed to the cross; the Body from which life had been expelled by the painful death of crucifixion, ere it had been buried in the grave of Joseph of Arimathea. This identity is insisted on by our Lord. I Myself. Flesh and bones. Our Lords risen body, then, was literally the very body which had been crucified; and yet it had properties attaching to it which distinguished it. It was sown a natural body, that is a body governed by ordinary natural laws; and raised a spiritual body, that is, a body which, while retaining physical substance and unimpaired identity, was yet endowed and interpenetrated with some of the properties of spirit.
II. Now, corresponding to the twofold character of our Lords risen Body, visible and palpable on the one hand, and spiritual on the other, is THE CHARACTER OF THE RELIGION WHICH REPRESENTS HIM AMONG MEN. Religion is like a sacrament: it has its outward and visible signs and its inward fact, or thing signified. Of these, the latter is, beyond dispute, the more important. Religion, the bond between the soul and God, lives in the habits, or acts, whereby the soul adheres to, and communes with, the Infinite Source of life. It is made up of faith, hope, and love, pouring themselves forth at the feet of the Invisible King; it is by turns aspiration, worship, resolve; it expends itself in a thousand unheard, unuttered acts, whereby the human spirit holds converse with its Creator. Religion is thus in its essence altogether removed from the province of sense; we cannot feel, or see, or hear, these acts of the soul, which assert its presence. It belongs to the purely immaterial world; it is hid with the Father, who seeth in secret, and who is worshipped, if at all, in spirit and truth. On the other hand, religion has another aspect. It steps forth from the sphere of the supersensuous, which is its congenial home; it takes bodily form and mien, and challenges the senses of hearing, and sight, and touch. It appeals through the human voice to the ear of sense. It meets and fascinates the eye; it even presents itself, as in the outward elements of a sacrament, to the touch. It is represented by a visible society--the Church. This society has its ministers, its assemblies for worship, its characteristic rites, its public buildings--all of which fall within the province of sense. The visible Church is, as our Lord said, a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid. Again, religion is represented by a book--the Bible. The Bible, too, belongs to the world of sense, just as much as the Church. We see it, handle it, read it. It brings religion visibly into the area of history, of poetry, of philosophy, as embodied in a large ancient literature. In the same way, religion takes an outward, shape in the good works and characters of individual Christians. They arrest observation; they invite comment, examination, discussion; they belong just as much to the public life of mankind as do the lives of worldly or wicked men. By them, too, Jesus Himself stands in the midst of human society. In short, religion in the world has this double character--outward and inward.
III. OUR LORDS PRECEPT, HANDLE ME, AND SEE, IS ADDRESSED TO TWO DIFFERENT CLASSES OF MEN.
1. It is an encouragement for the timid.
2. It is a direction for the perplexed. (Canon Liddon.)
The wounds of Jesus
I wish to draw your attention to the simple fact that our Lord Jesus Christ, when He rose again from the dead, had in His body the marks of His passion. If He had pleased He could readily have removed them.
I. OF WHAT USE WAS THE EXHIBITION OF THOSE WOUNDS TO THE DISCIPLES? They were infallible proofs that He was the same person. Had not some such evidence been visible upon our Saviour, it is probable that His disciples would have been unbelieving enough to doubt the identity of His person. But, now, think! If Christ had to undergo in His countenance those matchless transformations, that must have been, first of all, connected with His bloody sweat, then, with His agony, and after that, with the transforming, or, if I may use such a word, the transmutation of His body into a spiritual body, can you not conceive that His likeness would be changed, that the disciples would scarcely know Him if there had not been some deeply graven marks whereby they would be able to discover Him? The disciples looked upon the very face, but, even then they doubted. There was a majesty about Him which most of them had not seen. Peter, James, and John, had seen Him transfigured, when His garments were whiter than any fuller could make them; but the rest of the disciples had only seen Him as a man of sorrows; they had not seen Him as the glorious Lord, and, therefore, they would be apt to doubt whether He was the same. But these nail-prints, this pierced side, these were marks which they could not dispute, which unbelief itself could not doubt.
II. Let us turn to the second question: WHY SHOULD CHRIST WEAR THESE WOUNDS IN HEAVEN, AND OF WHAT AVAIL ARE THEY?
1. I can conceive, first, that the wounds of Christ in heaven will be a theme of eternal wonder to the angels.
2. Again, Christ wears these scars in His Body in heaven as His ornaments. The wounds of Christ are His glories, they are His jewels and His precious things.
3. Nor are these only the ornaments of Christ: they are His trophies--the trophies of His love. Have you never seen a soldier with a gash across his forehead or in his cheek? Why every soldier will tell you the wound in battle is no disfigurement--it is his honour.
4. Another reason why Jesus wears His wounds is, that when He intercedes He may employ them as powerful advocates. When He rises up to pray for His people, He needs not speak a word; He lifts His hands before His Fathers face; He makes bare His side, and points to His feet. These are the orators with which He pleads with God--these wounds. Oh, He must prevail.
5. Jesus Christ appears in heaven as the Wounded One, this shows again that He has not laid aside His priesthood. If the wounds had been removed we might have forgotten that there was a Sacrifice; and, mayhap, next we might have forgotten that there was a Priest. But the wounds are there: then there is a Sacrifice, and there is a Priest also, for He who is wounded is both Himself the Sacrifice and the Priest.
6. There is another and terrible reason why Christ wears His wounds still. It is this. Christ is coming to judge the world. Christ has with Himself today the accusers of His enemies. And when Christ shall come a second time to judge the world in righteousness, seated on the great white throne, that hand of His shall be the terror of the universe. They shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for their sins. They would not mourn with hopeful penitence in time; they shall mourn with sorrowful remorse throughout eternity.
III. WHAT DOES CHRIST MEAN BY SHOWING TO US HIS HANDS AND FEET?
1. He means this, that suffering is absolutely necessary. Christ is the head, and His people are the members. If suffering could have been avoided, surely our glorious Head ought to have escaped; but inasmuch as He shows us His wounds, it is to tell us that we shall have wounds too.
2. But next He teaches us His sympathy with us in our suffering. There, says He, see this hand! I am not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of your infirmities. I have suffered, too. I was tempted in all ways like as you are. Look here! there are the marks--there are the marks. They are not only tokens of My love, they are not only sweet forget-me-nots that bind Me to love you for ever. But besides that they are the evidence of My sympathy. I can feel for you. Look--look--I have suffered. Have you the heart-ache? Ah, look you here, what a heart-ache I had when this heart was pierced. Do you suffer, even unto blood wrestling against sin? So did I. I have sympathy with you.
3. Christ wears these wounds to show that suffering is an honourable thing. To suffer for Christ is glory.
4. Lastly, there is one sweet thought connected with the wounds of Christ that has charmed my soul, and made my heart run over with delight. It is this: I have sometimes thought that if I am a part of Christs Body, I am a poor wounded part; if I do belong to that all-glorious whole, the Church, which is His fulness, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all, yet have I said within me, I am a poor maimed part, wounded, full of putrifying sores. But Christ did not leave even His wounds behind Him; even those He took to heaven. Not a bone of Him shall be broken, and the flesh when wounded shall not be discarded--shall not be left. He shall carry that with Him to heaven, and He shall glorify even the wounded member. Is not this sweet, is not this precious to the troubled child of God? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The crucial test
In an old legend it is said that Satan once appeared to an old saint and said, I am Christ, when the saint confounded him, and exposed his pretensions, as he said, Then where are the nail-prints? (H. O.Mackey.)
They yet believed not for Joy
Primitive doubtings and their cure
I. THE DOUBTS OF THE DISCIPLES.
II. THE LORDS WAY OF MEETING THE DOUBTS OF THE DISCIPLES--He showed them His hands and His feet. Strange as this kind of recognition, this way of fixing the doubted identity, may seem, it was satisfactory. The mother in the story knew her long-lost child by the scar on the shoulder received in infancy; so was the Son of God recognized by the nail-prints and the bruises of the Cross. But did the disciples need this? Were the loved features not the same as ever? Were the eyes that wept over Jerusalem not the same as before; or had the grave robbed them of their tenderness and lustre? Were the lips, from which came the gracious words of parting love, not the same as in the upper chamber at the last supper? Was the voice so altered, that they did not know its tones? No. These resemblances might all be recognized; but so many things threw doubt upon these recognitions. It is, then, to remove all doubt that He exhibits the marks of His Passion. And in doing so, He shows us the true way of dispelling doubt, of whatever kind it may be, viz., the fuller knowledge of Himself, as the dead, the buried, the risen, and living Christ. It is this that is the cure of all unbelief, the death of doubting, the cherisher of faith, the perpetual source of stability and peace; for the real cause of all doubting is imperfect knowledge of the Lord. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Too good to be true
In the case before us, the disciples saw Christ manifestly before their eyes. To a certain extent they believed in His resurrection; that belief gave them joy, and at once that very joy made them unbelieving. They looked again; they believed once more; anon, a wave of joy rolled right over the head of their faith, and then afresh their doubts returned. If God had been half as merciful or a tithe as kind as He was, I could have believed it, but such exceeding riches of His grace were too much; such out-doings of Himself in goodness, such giving exceeding abundantly above what one could ask or even think, seemed too much to believe. We will at once attempt to deal with this temptation.
I. To begin, LET ME ACCOUNT FOR IT.
1. It is little marvel that the spirit is amazed even to astonishment and doubt when you think of the greatness of the things themselves. The black sinner says, My iniquity is great; I deserve the wrath of God; the gospel presents me with a pardon, full and complete. I have laboured to wash out these stains, but they will not disappear; the gospel tells me that the precious blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin.
2. Another reason for incredulity may be found in our sense of unworthiness. Note the person that receives these mercies, and you will not wonder that he believes not for joy. Ah, saith he, if these things were given to the righteous I could believe it, but to me, an old offender, to me, a hardhearted despiser of the overflowing love of God that cannot be!
3. Add to these the strange terms upon which God presents these things to poor sinners. The miracle of the manner equals the marvel of the matter. No works; simply trust thy soul with Christ.
4. And add to this one more thought--the method by which God proposes to work all this; that is to say, He proposes to pardon, and to justify the sinner instantaneously.
II. Having thus tried to account for this state of the heart, may I have the help of God while I try to DO BATTLE WITH THE EVIL THAT IS IN IT, THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO BELIEVE IN CHRIST!
1. Troubled heart, let me remind thee, first of all, that thou hast no need to doubt the truth of the precious revolution because of its greatness, for He is a great God who makes it to thee. Let no low thoughts of God come in to make you doubt His power to save you.
2. Again, let me remind you that the greatness of Gods mercy should encourage you to believe that it comes from God.
3. Let me remind you again, that you may get another argument to put aa end to your fears about the greatness of Gods mercy from the greatness of His providence.
III. I close by USING YOUR VERY FEARS AS AN ENTICEMENT TO BELIEVE. If it be so joyous only to think of these things, what must it be to possess them If it gives such a weight to thy spirit only to think of being pardoned, adopted, accepted, and saved, what must it be really to be washed? (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The final recorded meeting in Jerusalem
I. CONSIDER THE WAITING (see Act_1:4).
II. THE PROMISED BAPTISM (see Act_1:5).
III. CHRISTS EXEGESIS, OR EXPLANATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
1. Reminds them of former teaching.
2. Law, prophets, Psalms, etc., must be understood of Him.
IV. THE OPENING OF THEIR UNDERSTANDING.
V. THE COMPREHENSIVE CHARACTER OF CHRISTS COMMISSION.
1. Repentance.
2. Remission of sins.
3. In His name. Christ the sole hope.
4. Among all nations. Missions an essential part of the Church.
5. Beginning at Jerusalem.
VI. THE DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL COMMITTED TO THEM.
VII. TARRYING AT JERUSALEM. Tarrying, when clone because of faith, is a fine proof of faith, and strengthens prayer, and is an exercise of humility. (G. Venables, S. C. L.)
The Saviours last words
I. ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.
1. Prophetic.
(1) The books of Divine origin.
(2) Its writers holy men.
2. Messianic.
(1) In their spirit.
(2) In their letter.
(3) In their symbols.
3. Harmonic.
(1) Moses, the prophets, and psalms distinct chords of one Christly anthem.
(2) This wondrous unity of the Old Testament Scriptures an irrefragable proof of their essential divinity.
II. ESSENTIAL NEED OF DIVINE ILLUMINATION TO UNDERSTAND THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.
1. Suggested by Christs exposition.
2. Proved in the disciples experience.
3. Corroborated in all generations.
III. ESSENTIAL PRE-REQUISITES FOR HUMAN SALVATION.
1. The death of Christ.
2. The resurrection of Christ.
3. Repentance and remission of sins.
IV. AN ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST.
1. TO bear witness of personal salvation through Christ.
2. To bear witness of personal interest in the salvation of others,
V. AN ESSENTIAL NEED FOR SUCCESSFUL WITNESSING FOR CHRIST.
1. This promise of the Father was the gift of the Holy Spirit (Act_1:8).
2. This gift of the Holy Spirit was to endue the disciples of Christ with power for testimony.
3. This enducment with the power of the Holy Spirit essential for successsful bearing witness for Christ.
Practical questions:
1. Are we all disciples of Christ?
2. Do we all bear witness for Jesus Christ?
3. Is our witnessing for Christ accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit?
4. If not, why not? (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The gospel for the world
I. THE BASIS OF THE GOSPEL FOR THE WORLD.
1. This threefold division of the Scriptures suggestive in this connection.
(1) As showing that Christ is the central glory of each and every part.
(2) As showing in this the essential unity of all the parts.
2. The fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures most important in the evangelization of the world.
(1) Because it proves the Divine origin of the Scriptures.
(2) Because it shows the Divine authority with which the Christ of the Scriptures is invested as the worlds Saviour.
II. THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE PROMULGATION OF THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD.
1. A spiritual understanding of the Scriptures.
(1) Concerning the fitness of a suffering and a triumphant Christ.
(2) Concerning the essentials of gospel preaching.
2. Another qualification is Christian discipleship.
3. A third qualification is the special enduement of power.
(1) This enduement of power by the Holy Spirit should be distinguished from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is not a special, but general privilege of every Christian.
(2) The condition for this enduement may be seen in the account given of the prayerful waiting therefor, before the day of Pentecost Act_1:12-14; Act_2:1-4).
III. THE RETURN OF CHRIST TO HEAVEN, NECESSARY FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN THE WORLD.
1. The return of our Lord to heaven was necessary in order that the Holy Spirit might be sent. (Joh_16:7).
2. On the work of the Spirit depend the conviction and conversion of men, and the completion of the truth (Joh_16:8-14).
IV. PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
1. The worlds great need--the gospel of Christ.
2. The Churchs great responsibility to supply this need.
3. The importance of being equipped. (G. Venables, S. C. L.)
Then opened He their understanding
Christ illuminates the understanding
I. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THIS ACT OF CHRIST?
1. It implies the transcendent nature of spiritual things, far exceeding the highest flight and reach of natural reason.
2. Christs opening the understanding implies the insufficiency of all external means, how excellent soever they are in themselves to operate savingly upon men, till Christ by His power opens the soul, and so makes them effectual.
3. Christs opening the understanding imports His Divine power, whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself. Who but God knows the heart? Who but God can unlock and open it at pleasure?
II. BY WHAT ACTS CHRIST PERFORMS THIS WORK.
1. By His Word.
2. By His Spirit. He breaks in upon the understanding and conscience by powerful convictions and compunctions (Joh_16:8).
When this is done, the heart is opened: saving light now shines in it; and this light set up, the spirit in the soul is--
1. A new light, in which all things appear far otherwise than they did before. The names Christ and sin, the words heaven and hell have another sound in that mans ears, than formerly they had.
2. It is a very affecting light; a light that hath heat and powerful influences with it, which makes deep impressions on the heart.
3. And it is a growing light, like the light of the morning, which shines more and more unto the perfect day (Pro_4:18).
Inferences:
1. If this be the work and office of Jesus Christ, to open the understandings of men; hence we infer the miseries that lie upon those men, whose understandings, to this day, Jesus Christ hath not opened; of whom we may say, as it is Deu_29:4.
2. If Jesus Christ be the great Prophet of the Church, then surely He will take special care both of the Church and the under-shepherds appointed by Him to feed them.
3. Hence you that are yet in darkness, may be directed to whom to apply yourselves for saving knowledge. It is Christ that hath the sovereign eye-salve that can cure your blindness.
4. Since then there is a common light, and special saving light, which none but Christ can give, it is therefore the concernment of every one of you to try what your light is. We know that we all have knowledge (1Co_8:1).
These lights differ--
1. In their very kind and natures. The one is heavenly, supernatural, and spiritual; the other earthly and natural, the effect of a better constitution or education (Jam_3:15; Jam_3:17).
2. They differ most apparently in their effects and operations. The light that comes in a special way from Christ, is humbling, abasing, and soul-emptying light; by it a man feels the vileness of his own nature and practice, which begets self-loathing in him; but natural light, on the contrary, puffs up and exalts, makes the heart swell with self-conceitedness 1Co_8:1). The light of God is practical and operative, still urging the soul--yea, lovingly constraining it to obedience.
3. They differ in their issues. Natural common knowledge vanisheth, as the apostle speaks (1Co_13:8). Tis but Mayflower, and dies in its month. Doth not their excellency that is in them go away? (Job_4:21). But this that springs from Christ is perfected, not destroyed by death; it springs up into everlasting life. The soul in which it is subjected carries it away with it into glory.
4. How are they obliged to love, serve, and honour Jesus Christ, whom he hath enlightened with the saving knowledge of Himself? O that with hands and hearts lifted up to heaven, ye would adore the free grace of Jesus Christ to your souls! (J. Flavel.)
On the understanding of Scripture
I. OUR LORD DESIGNED TO PUT AN ESPECIAL HONOUR ON THE SCRIPTURES. He might have taught His disciples without them. He might have enabled them by immediate inspiration, to understand all things which related to His person. His office, and Divine commission; to His death and sufferings, His resurrection, and the glory that should follow. But He chose rather to refer them to the living oracles, given by God unto their fathers. Let me solemnly ask you, beloved brethren, what value do you set upon the Scriptures?
II. But, while vast numbers read not the Scriptures at all, MANY READ THEM, BUT UNDERSTAND THEM NOT. Their meaning is sealed up. If we would profit by the Scriptures, we must not read them like another book.
III. That these remarks may be brought to some practical end, let us, finally, ask--DO WE READ THE SCRIPTURES CONTINUALLY WITH THIS CONVICTION, THAT, WITHOUT THE TEACHING OF THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THEM? It is our duty to search the Scriptures; it is the Lord alone who can enable us to understand them.
1. If this conviction be strong on our minds, it will lead us to read the Scriptures with earnest prayer.
2. Again, if we be under an abiding conviction that, without the teaching of the Spirit, we cannot understand the Scriptures, we shall read them with diligence and perseverance.
3. Once more, if we be deeply convinced of our need of the grace of God, we shall read the Scriptures with an obedient, humble, teachable spirit. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
The understanding opened
I. THE CHANGE PRODUCED. The unlocking of the whole soul; the breaking down of all the barriers of pride, prejudice, and sin, which preclude the gospel, and prevent the cordial reception of its salutary truths.
II. THE AUTHOR OF THIS CHANGE. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His Spirit. Inward illumination is necessary, because of--
1. The insufficiency of human powers.
2. The inefficiency of outward means.
III. The END of this change; the object which its Divine Author particularly regards; and this is, a right acquaintance with the holy Scriptures. Then opened He their understanding; why? to what end and purpose? That they might understand the Scriptures. Here let it be carefully noted--the holy Scriptures are a complete revelation of the mind and will of God. But what is this understanding of the Scriptures, this right acquaintance with the Word of God, which evinces the teaching of the Spirit of Christ?
1. It is impressive. It is knowledge which touches and interests the heart.
2. It is progressive. The Spirit of Christ teaches gradually. More and more unto the perfect day.
3. It is practical. This knowledge has influence on the spirit and conduct of men, an influence most salutary and important.
(1) It humbles for sin.
(2) It endears the Saviour.
(3) It promotes holiness.
From the whole we remark--
1. The unhappy condition of those whose minds are yet closed against the light of the word and Spirit of Christ. Natural blindness is a melancholy affliction, but unspeakably more so this darkness of the soul!
2. The duty of such as desire Divine teachings. Think not highly of yourselves, but soberly as you ought to think.
3. The encouragement which the gospel gives to apply to Jesus Christ. This encouragement is large and free. (T. Kidd.)
Understanding the Scriptures
Whilst at prayer-meeting to-night, I learned more of the meaning of Scripture than ever before. Suitable frames of soul are like good lights, in which a painting appears to its full advantage. (S. Pearse.)
The opened understanding
This is in all probability as stupendous a miracle as any in the Lords history. That men should in a moment receive a power of mental comprehension which they had not before, and that this power should enable them to see the true import and meaning of a book which had hitherto been closed to them, seems greater than any acts of healing, or feeding of multitudes, or stilling of tempests. It implies Divine power over our spiritual and intellectual nature such as God only can exercise. And yet it is the commonest of all miracles, and the one which survives amongst us. The opening of the mind and heart to the things of God is constantly now going on. To many--we may say to all--who submit their wills and understandings to God, the Scriptures are unlocked, a new light is shed upon every part of them, especially upon the works and words of the Lord. This power of a risen Christ we claim every time we put up to God one of the most familiar of all our prayers, that by patience and comfort of His holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life in Jesus Christ. (M. F. Sadler.)
Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer
Christs epitome of the gospel
I. THE GOSPEL IS HERE REPRESENTED AS THE OUTCOME OF THE LONGCHERISHED PURPOSES OF GOD. It behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again, because it was included in Gods redemptive purposes as revealed by His servants the prophets. Redemption was not an afterthought in the Divine mind.
II. THE GOSPEL IS HERE REPRESENTED AS GROUNDING ITSELF IN TWO HISTORICAL FACTS: VIZ., ON THE SUFFERINGS AND THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
III. THE GOSPEL, AS EXPRESSED IN THESE TWO FACTS, IS HERE REPRESENTED AS THE SUBJECT MATTER OF APOSTOLIC PREACHING. Why? Unquestionably, because they are the most vital and essential doctrines of Christianity. They lie at the root of all experimental religion.
IV. THE GOSPEL IS HERE REPRESENTED AS EMBRACING IN ITS MERCIFUL RESIGNS THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE. IT IS TO BE PREACHED AMONG ALL NATIONS.
V. THE GOSPEL IS HERE REPRESENTED AS OFFERING DIVINE MERCY TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS. Beginning at Jerusalem. (W. H. C. Harris.)
The principles and proclamation of the gospel
It would be difficult to find in the Word of God another paragraph which contains within itself more of the essential principles of the gospel than that to which this text belongs.
I. THE GROUND ON WHICH THE GOSPEL PROCLAMATION RESTS: It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. There could have been no gospel if there had been no Cross; but the death, even of Jesus, would have had no efficacy for the removal of human guilt, if He had not risen from the grave. The one fact is invariably connected with the other in the Epistles. The honour of the law required a victim. Three doctrines unite to form a trinity of gospel truth:
1. The person of Christ as God incarnate.
2. The death of Christ as the sacrifice.
3. The resurrection of Christ as the witness to the other two doctrines.
II. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE HERE DESCRIBED: That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name. It is a proclamation of the remission of sins. This pardon is--
1. Full;
2. Free;
3. Immediate;
4. Irreversible.
But it is not a proclamation of forgiveness alone. Two things, repentance and remission, are to go together. A man cannot have forgiveness and continue at the same time to indulge in sin. This mention of repentance is virtually the same thing as that insistence on faith so constantly found in the New Testament. Faith is the Christ ward side of repentance. Repentance is the sinward side of faith.
III. THE ORDER IN WHICH THIS PROCLAMATION IS TO BE MADE: To all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. The reasons of beginning at Jerusalem were--
1. To magnify the Divine mercy.
2. To secure a convincing illustration of the gospels efficacy.
3. To establish a principle for the guidance of Gods people in all ages.
So the law is that our first efforts should begin in our own homes--beginning at Jerusalem--but we are not to be content with working there. We must look abroad also to all nations. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Christs sufferings, resurrection
etc.:--
I. THE EXPEDIENCY OF CHRISTS SUFFERING AND RESURRECTION.
1. That prophecy might be fulfilled (Zec_13:1).
2. That justice might be satisfied, and peace made (Rom_3:25-26).
3. To convince and confound His adversaries.
4. To confirm the faith of His disciples.
5. To conquer sin, death, and grave.
6. That He might be the firstfruits.
7. That after abasement He might be exalted.
II. THE BLESSED EFFECTS RESULTING. That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
1. The nature and necessity of repentance (Act_5:31).
2. Full and free remission (Act_13:39).
3. In His name, or by His authority (Mar_16:15-16).
4. Beginning at Jerusalem in the first place (Luk_1:72).
5. And carrying it to all nations.
III. THE IMPROVEMENT.
1. The grace of Christ always prevents us (Luk_19:10).
2. Repentance and remission of sins are the fruits of Christs death and resurrection (Rom_8:33-34).
3. Remission of sins also accompanied with the saving knowledge of salvation.
4. The gospel commission is without exception of nations, as Gods people are in all nations.
5. Salvation is alone in the name of Christ. (T. B. Baker.)
Two supreme necessities
I. IT BEHOVED CHRIST TO SUFFER.
1. Because He must show the evil of sin; and this is only seen in its results.
2. Because He must vindicate the Divine honour; and this He could only do by bearing the penalty of sin.
3. Because His truth would oppose the natural inclinations of men, and they would be sure to make Him suffer.
4. Because He must render a perfect obedience to the Father; and this could only be tested and proved by suffering.
II. IT BEHOVED CHRIST TO RISE.
1. Because His work was a commission, and some sign of its acceptance was needed.
2. Because His work was incomplete at death; part must be accomplished in renewed life. (The Weekly Pulpit.)
Christs death and resurrection foretold in Scripture
I. THAT MESSIAH SHOULD SUFFER DEATH.
1. Foretold in the Pentateuch. Gen_22:18.
(2) Sacrificial slaying of beasts.
2. Foretold in the Prophets (Isa_53:1-12.; Dan_9:25-26; Zec_12:10).
3. Foretold in the Psalms (Psa_16:9-10).
II. THAT IT BEHOVED HIM ALSO TO RISE AGAIN.
1. This was first foreshown in the same story of Isaac, wherein his sacrifice or suffering was acted. For from the time that God commanded Isaac to be offered for a burnt-offering, Isaac was a dead man; but the third day he was released from death. This the text tells us expressly, that it was the third day when Abraham came to Mount Moriah, and had his son, as it were, restored to him again: which circumstance there was no need nor use at all to have noted, had it not been for some mystery. For had there been nothing intended but the naked story, what did it concern us to know whether it were the third or the fifth day that Abraham came to Moriah, where he received his son from death? (see Heb_11:17-19). The same was foreshowed by the law of sacrifices, which were to be eaten before the third day. Some sacrifices were to be eaten the same day they were offered; but those which were deferred longest, as the peace-offerings, were to be eaten before the third day. The third day no sacrifice might be eaten, but was to be burnt: if it were eaten, it was not accepted for an atonement but counted an abomination. Namely, to show that the sacrifice of Messiah, which these sacrifices represented, was to be finished the third day by His rising from the dead: and therefore the type thereof determined within that time,beyond which time it was not accepted for atonement of sin, because then it was no longer a type of Him.
2. As for the prophets, I find no express prediction in them for the time of Christs rising (for that of the case of the Prophet Jonah, I take to be rather an allusion then a prophecy) only in general, That Christ should rise again, is implied both in that famous prophecy of Isa_53:1-12., and that of Zec_12:3. I come to the Psalms, where not only His rising again is prophesied of, but the time thereof determined; though at first sight it appears not so: namely, in that fore-alledged passage of the Sixteenth Psalm, Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, nor suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. All men shall rise again, but their bodies must first return to dust, and see corruption. But Messiah was to rise again before He saw corruption. If before, then, the third day at farthest; for then the body naturally begins to see corruption. (J. Mede.)
Necessity for Christs sufferings
Christs sacrifice upon Calvary came along by a process of natural simplicity. His death is readily explicable, and yet after He died He said that that death was one of the foregone conclusions of history: Thus it behoved Christ to suffer. Paul said Christ must needs have suffered. Must. It is well to think down deep thoughts into the musts of history. The ages were surveyed--using the word of the civil engineer--before they were peopled and built upon, and the points were fixed which now century by century God is covering with facts and events. (C. H. Parkhurst.)
Why it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise
I. TO SUFFER.
1. It did not primarily behove Christ to suffer merely because the prophets had foretold that He should suffer and die; the necessity of His sufferings was rather the reason why prophets were directed to foretel a suffering Messiah. It behoved Him to suffer, that He might make a full and sufficient atonement for the sins of guilty man. It was the will of the Divine Father, and that will was sovereign and absolute, that Jehovah Jesus, the everlasting Son of the Father, should assume our nature, live in our world, and suffer in our stead. It was the voluntary engagement of the Son of God to accomplish His Fathers will--Lo! I come; in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God.
2. I grant you there are collateral reasons why it thus behoved Christ to suffer. Thus it behoved Him to suffer, that He might exhibit a perfect pattern of all excellence, and of patience in the midst of suffering. In all His condescension, in all His meekness, in all His forgiveness, in all His charity, He has taught us how to live and how to suffer; and if we say we abide in Him, we ought to walk as He also walked.
3. It behoved Him to suffer in our nature, and in our world, that He might, in some sense, ennoble and dignify the path of poverty and of suffering.
4. It behoved Him to suffer, that from personal experience in our nature and in our world, He might know how to sympathise with His suffering people.
5. It behoved Him to suffer, preparatory to that glory to which, as Mediator, He was to be exalted. Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory? Not unfrequently does it happen, that the path of suffering is the high road to honour and glory; and never does true greatness appear in a light so impressive and interesting, as when seen grappling with difficulties, struggling with opposition, and ultimately rising superior to all. Through what a scene of suffering and agony and blood did our Divine Saviour pass, preparatory to entering into His glory! And when He arrived at the heavenly world, what an outburst of triumph and joy do we hear! Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. And let His suffering followers know, that if so be they suffer with Him, in His cause and in His state and temper, they shall also be glorified together.
II. TO RISE AGAIN.
1. It behoved Him to rise, that in rising He might show that the redemption-price paid by the shedding of His blood was sufficient, and that it was accepted.
2. It behoved Him to rise from the dead, that in rising He might show that He had triumphed over death.
3. It behoved Him to rise., that in rising He might be the firstfruits of them that slept.
4. It behoved Him to rise from the dead, that in rising He might assert and exercise His regal character and office as King of saints, as Lord of the earth. (R. Newton, D. D.)
That repentance and remission of sins should be preached
Christs first and last subject
From Mat_4:17, coupled with this verse, we learn that repentance was the first subject upon which the Redeemer dwelt, and that it was the last which, with His departing breath, He commended to the earnestness of His disciples. He begins His mission crying, Repent; He ends it by saying to His successors the apostles, Preach repentance and remission of sins among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
I. Repentance--ITS ORIGIN. When we cry, Repent and be converted, there are some foolish men who call us legal. Now, we beg to state, at the opening of this first point, that repentance is of gospel parentage. It was not born near Mount Sinai. If repentance is ever obtained by the poor sinner, it must be found at the foot of the Cross, and not where the ten commandments lie shivered at Sinais base. And as repentance is of gospel parentage, I make a second remark, it is also of gracious origin. Repentance was never yet produced in any mans heart apart from the grace of God.
II. But to pass forward from this first point to our second head, let us notice the ESSENTIALS of true repentance. I have thus, as best I could, feeling many and very sad distractions in my own mind, endeavoured to explain the essentials of true repentance, illumination, humiliation, detestation, transformation.
III. And now, with all brevity, let me notice, in the third place, the COMPANIONS of true repentance. Her first companion is faith. There was a question once asked by the old Puritan divines, Which was first in the soul, faith or repentance? Some said that a man could not truly repent of sin until he believed in God, and had some sense of a Saviours love. Others said a man could not have faith till he had repented of sin; for he must hate sin before he could trust Christ. So a good old minister who was present made the following remark: Brethren, said he, I dont think you can ever settle this question. It would be something like asking whether, when an infant is born, the circulation of the blood or the beating of the pulse can be first observed. Said he, it seems to me that faith and repentance are simultaneous. They come at the same moment. There could be no true repentance without faith. There never was yet true faith without sincere repentance. We endorse that opinion. I believe they are like the Siamese twins--they are born together, and they could not live asunder, but must die if you attempt to separate them. Faith always walks side by side with his weeping sister, true repentance. There is another sweet thing which always goes with repentance, just as Aaron went with Moses, to be spokesman for him; for you must know that Moses was slow of speech, and so is repentance. Repentance has fine eyes, but stammering lips. In fact, it usually happens that repentance speaks through her eyes, and cannot speak with her lips at all, except her friend--who is a good spokesman--is near. He is called Mr. Confession. This man is noted for his open-breastedness. Repentance sighs over the sin--confession tells it out. Holiness is evermore the bosom friend of penitence. Fair angel, clad in pure white linen, she loves good company, and will never stay in a heart where repentance is a stranger. Repentance must dig the foundations, but holiness shall erect the structure, and bring forth the top-stone. Repentance is the clearing away of the rubbish of the past temple of sin; holiness builds the new temple which the Lord our God shall inherit. Repentance and desires after holiness never can be separated. Yet once more--wherever repentance is, there cometh also with it peace.
IV. And now I come to my fourth and last point, namely, the EXCELLENCIES of repentance. I shall somewhat surprise you, perhaps, if I say that one of the excellencies of repentance lies in its pleasantness. Oh! you say, but it is bitter! Nay, say I; it is sweet. At least, it is bitter when it is alone, like the waters of Marah; but there is a tree called the cross, which if thou canst put into it, it will be sweet, and thou wilt love to drink of it. At a school of mutes who were both deaf and dumb, the teacher put the following question to her pupils: What is the sweetest emotion? As soon as the children comprehended the question, they took their slates and wrote their answers. One girl in a moment wrote down Joy. As soon as the teacher saw it, she expected that all would write the same, hut another girl, more thoughtful, put her hand to her brow, and she wrote Hope. Verily, the girl was not far from the mark. But the next one, when she brought up her slate, had written Gratitude, and this child was not wrong. Another one, when she brought up her slate, had written Love, and I am sure she was right. But there was one other who had written in large characters--and as she brought up her slate the tear was in her eye, showing she had written what she felt--Repentance is the sweetest emotion. And I think she was right. Besides this excellency, it is specially sweet to God as well as to men. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. When St. Augustine lay a-dying, he had this verse always fixed upon the curtains, so that as often as he awoke he might read it--A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. When you despise yourselves, God honours you; but as long as you honour yourselves, God despises you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The gospel commission
I. THE FOUNDATION OF THIS COMMISSION (see Luk_24:46).
II. THE PECULIAR WORK OF THIS COMMISSION. The preaching of repentance and remission of sins in the name of Christ.
III. ITS BEGINNING AS TO LOCALITY. Jerusalem.
IV. THE EXTENT OF THE COMMISSION. All nations.
V. THE GRAND USE TO WHICH THE COMMISSION MUST NOW BE PUT BY THE PEOPLE OF GOD. (A. Somerville.)
The apostolic commission
I. THE WORK PRESCRIBED BY THE SAVIOUR. The end of this work is, that sinners should be saved. This practical end we must ever keep in view.
1. The means here prescribed is preaching--preaching repentance and remission of sins. This ordinance of preaching, even in the general sense of public religious teaching, is all but peculiar to the religion of Christ.
2. The power indicated in our text is the power of truth, of the true Word of God. And here we see the ultimate source of our strength, in the revealed will of God. The so-called crusaders, in their wild enterprise for the recovery of God-forsaken Palestine from the infidels, were animated and sustained by the battle-cry, God wills it. In seeking to win the lost world to its life in God, from the bondage of sin and death and hell, we have to cheer us and sustain us the Bible truth, God wills it. For the work which He has ordained shall certainly be done (Isa_55:10-13). This glorious work the gospel is fitted instrumentally to achieve by its nature as true and Divine, the Word of God.
3. Not only the gospel is true and Divine; its Teacher is true and Divine. It is ordained in this Will that the preaching shall be in the name of Jesus the Christ.
II. THE ORDER IN WHICH THIS WORK IS TO BE UNDERTAKEN: BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM. Not passing by Jerusalem, nor coming to her in the last place, but beginning at Jerusalem: so runs the Will.
1. They are the nearest, most easily reached.
(1) In place. To the apostles elect Jerusalem was literally the nearest point of Judaea, and Judaea of Palestine, and Palestine of the world. And even beyond Judaea and Palestine, in every important city of the Gentile world, there was a Judaea and Jerusalem, a Jewish quarter and synagogue, more accessible and convenient for public religious teaching and discussion than any other quarter and temple. This is one of his points of resemblance to the Scot--his nation, far more than ours, is the ubiquitous nation. All the world over, the Jew is nearest in place.
(2) They are nearest in mind. The wood has first to be hewn in the savage forest, and the stones to be quarried from the bowels of the earth, before the heathen mind can furnish as much as an altar for our faith to be laid on. But in the mind of the Jew the altar is built to our hands; the wood is there upon it, ready to be kindled to a blaze.
2. They are, when found and saved, fitted to be the most precious, as instruments of diffusing the gospel to others. I have already referred to their lot of ubiquity, showing that they are by position an army in actual occupation of the world. I might add that they have a natural gift of tongues, being familiar with the languages of all the nations among which they are dispersed. And we have seen that they have a theological knowledge, derived from Old Testament revelation, such that they need only to know Jesus as the incarnate Word in order to be ready-made preachers of Him in the gospel.
3. They are the worst. They are the chief of sinners, peculiarly the children of the devil (Joh_8:44). No other nation has sinned as they havesinned, so long and deeply and desperately, against the light of Gods offered mercy, first in Moses and all the prophets, then in the person of Jesus the Christ, and finally in the apostles and evangelists throughout the new dispensation of the Spirit. Therefore we ought to preach the gospel of salvation to the Jews first. For, first, in so doing we act in the spirit of the gospel as a dispensation of healing mercy: we illustrate the abounding grace of the great Physician, who hastens to go first with His remedy where the malady is deadliest. And second: when Jerusalem has yielded at last, and believed and repented for salvation, what shall her actual salvation be but spiritual resurrection to the world? For she will love much because she has been forgiven much. (J. Macgregor, D. D.)
The work of the Christian ministry
I. THE GRAND SUBJECTS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY: repentance and remission of sins.
II. HOW THESE SUBJECTS ARE TO BE DELIVERED: preached.
(1) Simply;
(2) earnestly;
(3) faithfully;
(4) affectionately.
III. IN WHOSE NAME THESE TWO GREAT SUBJECTS ARE TO BE PREACHED: in the name of Christ.
IV. TO WHOM: all nations.
V. WHERE FIRST: at Jerusalem. (W. J. Grundy.)
Repentance and pardon
Repentance and pardon are like to the three spring months of the year--March, April, and May. Sin comes in like March--blustering, stormy, and full of bold violence. Repentance succeeds like April--showery, weeping, and full of tears. Pardon follows like May--springing, singing, full of joys and flowers. If our hands have been full of March, with the tempest of unrighteousness, our eyes must be full of April, with the sorrow of repentance; and then our hearts shall be full of May, in the true joy of forgiveness.
The duty and importance of special efforts for the conversion of cities
I. OUR SAVIOUR DEVOTED HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY VERY MUCH TO CITIES AND LARGE TOWNS.
II. CHRIST, IN HIS INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS DISCIPLES, PARTICULARLY DIRECTS THEIR ATTENTION TO CITIES AND LARGE TOWNS.
III. CITIES WERE THE THEATRES OF THE HOLY SPIRITS FIRST AND MOST ILLUSTRIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. Instance--Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, etc.
IV. WE SHOULD SEEK THE CONVERSION OF CITIES, BECAUSE IN THEM THE ADVERSARY REIGNS WITH PECULIAR POWER. Would you see the power of Satan in cities? Cast your eye back upon the past. What were Sodom and Gomorrah? What were Tyre, and Sidon, and Nineveh? What was Babylon? What was Jerusalem in its latter days, when given up, accursed of God? What were they but sinks of pollution and fountains of ruin? And, could we draw aside the curtains of darkness, what might we see in modern cities?
V. THERE ARE PECULIAR ADVANTAGES FOR THE PROMOTION OF RELIGION IN CITIES. In cities, ministers and good men can readily and effectually cooperate in plans of usefulness. Cities also furnish peculiar advantages for individual exertion. If Christians in our cities would conduct themselves agreeably to the Bible, how awful to the wicked would be their example! What reformations would be wrought among the worldly and profane! How many haunts of poverty and wretchedness would be searched out!
How many souls, once in communion with the saints, would be brought back from their wanderings!
VI. ANOTHER REASON FOR SPECIAL EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF CITIES IS, THE INFLUENCE WHICH THEY EXERT ON THE COUNTRY AND ON THE WORLD. (W. Patton, M. A.)
The charge to the apostles
I. WHAT THEY WERE TO PREACH.
1. Repentance. This consists in conviction of sin, contrition of heart, and godly sorrow for transgressions; and it ends in real conversion to God.
2. Remission of sins. Free, full, final. The Forgiver retains no anger.
3. They were to preach both repentance and the remission of sins. We are not to separate what God hath joined together. To encourage the hope of pardon, without repentance, is rebellion against common sense, and treason against the whole spirit and letter of the Word of God. And, on the other hand, there is no true repentance without proper views of, and faith in, Gods pardoning mercy and grace. Without these the heart may be terrified, but it never can be softened.
II. HOW THEY WERE TO PREACH THIS. In His name.
1. In His stead.
2. By His authority.
3. Through His mediatorial influence.
III. AMONG WHOM WERE THEY TO PREACH? Among all nations.
1. Christianity was designed to be universal; to enter and to pervade all nations of the earth.
2. Christianity is adapted to universality.
3. Enough has already been done to encourage our hope of its actual universality in due time.
IV. WHERE WERE THEY TO BEGIN THEIR WORK? In Jerusalem.
1. To fulfil Scripture (Zec_14:8).
2. To attest more strongly the truth of Christianity. They were to begin to preach the facts of the gospel in the very place where it is reported they occurred; and so recently as to be in the memory of those they addressed. Would impostors have done this?
3. To afford proofs of the Saviours compassion. He sends His ambassadors with offers of mercy and pardon to a city whose inhabitants were reeking with His blood.
4. It was that His ministers should afford encouragement to all; so that none should have a just pretence to perish in despair. Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
5. It was to encourage His servants in their endeavours to evangelize. The apostles were not to begin at a distance, but as near as possible. Suppose, now, you had a wilderness covered with briers and thorns, and you wished to make a smooth passage through it; would it be wiser to begin at the farther end, and work homewards, or at home first, pursuing your course to the farther end? Would not the latter way save you some time and trouble? And, as you went on, would not the little parts you cultivated afford supplies to aid you to proceed with your cultivation? (W. Jay.)
Repentance
He that repents leaves the wrong way to take the right. Repentance is a change of mind leading to a change of conduct. He that repents turns quite round to God; his back was to heavens gate, his face is now toward it. A single action may show the change, as the weather-vane, pointing to a new quarter, tells us that the wind has changed. And what a change that may be! The wind is west, we cry; the drought is over! How simple is repentance, how mighty the effects! Effects! Simple! Is the rain that blesses the thirsty land caused by the turning weather-cock? Is the great change of wind, of which even smoke or a straw may give us notice, only to be had for the wishing, or so very simple in its causes? We cannot state too simply to ourselves what repentance is; but this repentance, of which we so speak, is a very great thing. This change in the souls weather may come in with stormy darkness; thunder and rain and tempest may be the servants of God that bring the blessing. To preach repentance then is not merely to cry: Consider your ways, amend them. It is to present such inducements, and to provide such assistances that the soul may feel itself very powerfully dealt with for amendment; and these are provided and presented in Jesus Christ. (T. T. Lynch.)
Remission of sins
Remission of sins is the assurance that God will not charge them against the repenting soul; and that He will break the strength they still have in it, and wholly disperse and destroy them. Pardon and complete deliverance are assured; and at once the effect of former sin begins to be put away. But the process of salvation is a gradual one. To put on Christ is not the work of an hour. The Physician once welcomed, many a visit must He pay. Even were the soul at the hour of its repentance absolutely assured that no more harm could ever come to it from what it had done amiss, it has all its good yet to win and to appropriate: as yet it occupies a low place; it is untaught, unclad; it must be educated; it can rise only by degrees. Christ has said for it, and for all souls, I have overcome evil; I have perfected good. By faith in Him, i.e., by our so personal union with Him, through trust, that He is ours and we His, we gain all the benefits of His protection from evil, and His promised impartation of God. But we enter into the fulness of the blessing gradually. And, strong as our confidence in the Divine pardon may be, sin in us does not at once die; and earnest as our repentance toward God may be, the good new life in us is not at once adult and all-accomplished. But, in the name of Christ, there has been preached to us, and still is, repentance and remission of sins: repentance, with all inducements and all assistances; remission, with all assurance: the comfort of the blessing, the earnest of its full realization--these may at once be ours. In the name of Christ: shall we say, by His power the one is preached; for His sake, the other? Yes; so we may say. But the two blessings are one in Him who has subdued the past for us and won for us the future. Vain, and wrong, were any declaration of pardon without a call to repentance. Vain, and even mocking, were any call to repentance without the promise of pardon. Hope there can be none for man unless he be made divinely good. Good, and happy in his goodness can no man be made, unless the forces of evil with which he was leagued, by which he was thralled, to which he contributed, are overcome. (T. T. Lynch.)
Beginning at Jerusalem
Reasons for beginning at Jerusalem
I. THAT THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER MIGHT BE FULFILLED.
II. THAT THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY MIGHT BE CONFIRMED.
III. THAT THE FULNESS OF CHRISTS MERCY MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED.
IV. THAT THE EFFICACY OF HIS GRACE MIGHT BE MANIFESTED. In conclusion, we learn from the subject--
1. That it is the duty of professing Christians to manifest the spirit of Christ. If Christ is dwelling in you, you cannot but manifest His spirit, for His life is your life.
2. We learn from this subject, that it is our duty to spread the gospel of Christ.
3. From this Subject we learn how sincere and earnest is Gods desire for the salvation of sinners--He is not willing that any should perish. (J. Dobie, D. D.)
Beginning at Jerusalem
I. WHAT THEY WERE TO PREACH.
1. Repentance.
(1) Repentance as a duty.
(2) The acceptableness of repentance.
(3) The motives of repentance. Not mere fear of hell; but sorrow for sin.
(4) Repentance in its perpetuity.
(5) The source of repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ is exalted to give repentance.
2. Remission of sins. Free, full, irreversible pardon for all who repent of sin, and lay hold on Christ by faith.
II. WHERE IT IS TO BE PREACHED. Among all nations. Divine warrant for missions.
III. But this is not all. We are actually told HOW TO PREACH IT. Repentance and remission are to be preached in Christs name. What does this mean?
1. Ought we not to learn from this that we are to tell the gospel to others, because Christ orders us to do so? In Christs name we must do it. Silence is sin when salvation is the theme. But it means more than that.
2. Not only preach it under His orders, but preach it on His authority. The true servant of Christ has his Master to back him up.
3. But does it not mean, also, that the repentance and the remission which are so bound together come to men by virtue of His name? Oh, sinner, there would be no acceptance of your repentance if it were not for that dear name!
IV. Now, I shall ask your attention to the principal topic of the present discourse, and that is, that He told His disciples WHERE TO BEGIN. The apostles were not to pick and choose where they should start, but they were to begin at Jerusalem. Why?
1. Because it was written in the Scriptures that they were to begin at Jerusalem (Isa_2:3; Joe_2:32; Joe_3:16; Zec_14:8).
2. I suppose that our Lord bade His disciples begin to preach the gospel at Jerusalem, because it was at Jerusalem that the facts which make up the gospel had occurred.
3. The third reason why the Lord Jesus told them to begin at Jerusalem may have been that He knew that there would come a time when some of His disciples would despise the Jews, and there fore He said--When you preach My gospel, begin with them. This is a standing commandment, and everywhere we ought to preach the gospel to the Jew as well as to the Gentile; Paul even says, to the Jew first.
4. The fourth reason for beginning at Jerusalem is a practical lesson for you. Begin where you are tempted not to begin. Naturally these disciples would have said one to another when they met, We cannot do much here in Jerusalem. The first night that we met together the doors were shut for fear of the Jews. It is of no use for us to go out into the street; these people are all in such an excited frame of mind that they will not receive us; we had better go up to Damascus, or take a long journey, and then commence preaching; and when this excitement is cooled down, and they have forgotten about the crucifixion, we will come and introduce Christ gradually, and say as little as we can about putting Him to death. That would have been the rule of policy--that rule which often governs men who ought to be led by faith. But our Lord had said, Beginning at Jerusalem, and so Peter must stand up in the midst of that motley throng, and he must tell them, This Jesus whom ye have with wicked hands crucified and slain is now risen from the dead. Instead of tearing Peter to pieces they come crowding up, crying, We believe in Jesus: let us be baptized into His sacred name. The same day there were added to the church three thousand souls, and a day or two afterwards five thousand were converted by the same kind of preaching. We ought always to try to do good where we think that it will not succeed.
5. Begin at home. Look well to your own children, servants, brothers, sisters, neighbours.
6. Begin where much has been already done. The Jerusalem people had been taught for centuries in vain; and yet Christs disciples were to speak to them first. We must not pass the gospel-hardened; we must labour for the conversion of those who have enjoyed privileges but have neglected them.
7. Begin where the gospel day is short. It was about to end at Jerusalem. Now, then, if you have any choice as to the person you shall speak to, select an old man. He is near his journeys end, and if he is unsaved there is but a little bit of candle left by the light of which he may come to Christ. Or when any of you notice a girl upon whose cheek you see that hectic flush which marks consumption--if you notice during service the deep churchyard cough--say to yourself, I will not let you go without speaking to you, for you may soon be dead. We ought speedily to look up those whose day of grace is short.
8. Begin, dear friend, where you may expect opposition. That is a singular thing to advise, but I recommend it because the Saviour advised it. If they began at Jerusalem, they would arouse a ferocious opposition. But nothing is much better for the gospel than opposition.
9. The Saviour bade them begin at Jerusalem, because the biggest sinners lived there. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Beginning at Jerusalem
I. The charge to begin at Jerusalem shows how the gospel challenges investigation of the facts which it proclaims in the locality in which they transpired, and where, in consequence, they are capable of being most thoroughly sifted.
II. The charge to begin at Jerusalem shows that even Jerusalem sinners--the men who had thirsted for the Saviours blood--the men who had cried, Away with Him, crucify Him!--the men who mocked Him in His last agonies--the men who reviled and tortured and murdered Him--were not excluded from His compassion.
1. Taking at the outset the lowest ground, we learn from His words that there is mercy for the greatest sinners.
2. But this is not all. The text requires us to advance a step further. It not only teaches that there is mercy for the worst sinners, but that the worst and most wretched sinners are especially the objects of mercy. Should you begin to ask how this is, and on what principle it is to be accounted for, our own feelings under certain circumstances may help us to an answer. The mother, if she loves as a mother should, has no arbitrary or groundless preference for any of her children. While they are all about her, behaving as children should, she cannot tell you which is dearest. Most sincerely she will tell you that she loves them all alike. But in after years, when their character is developed, and each pursues his own course, it is the poor prodigal whose suffering most awakens her solicitude, and not so much his suffering as his sin. It is his image that is most frequently present to her mind. Let me add here, that the salvation of the worst sinners will serve most to magnify the Divine mercy. As the rough sea makes manifest the good qualities of the lifeboat which has weathered the storm; as the physicians skill is most illustriously displayed, and the efficacy of his medicines most strikingly evinced, by the cure of the most aggravated disease; as the builders reputation is advanced, not only by the beauty and symmetry of the structure which he has erected, but also by the worthlessness of the materials out of which it has been formed; so is mercy most illustriously displayed and most gloriously magnified in the salvation of the greatest sinners. Moreover, the forgiveness of the greater guilt is fitted to awaken greater gratitude in the forgiven sinner.
III. The Saviours charge shows the order in which we should proceed in our efforts for the conversion of the world. The principle which He commends to us is the sound principle of beginning at home. But while our efforts should begin at home, they should only begin there. (W. Landels.)
The Divine order of preaching
Mark the order to be observed, for it is here prescribed, in promulgating the system of truth and mercy throughout the world. They were to begin at Jerusalem; and therefore we must begin there. For thus it is written--A law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. This part of the Divine order gives to our common Christianity a character of the most resplendent truth. Beginning at Jerusalem. Suppose they had begun anywhere else but at Jerusalem. Suppose they had passed Jerusalem by. Suppose they had gone to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. Suppose they had gone to countries still more remote, and there commenced operations, and there proclaimed repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus Christ. Infidelity with both its eyes open and both its ears, to look at anything that can be seen, and listen to anything that can be heard, which can be lifted up to the discredit of Christianity--infidelity would very soon have raised its crest, arid lifted its voice on high. It would have said, You see how these apostles, as they are called, managed this matter. Not a man of them dared say a word in Jerusalem. They knew, if they had gone there with their tales about the darkened sun, the rending rocks and rising dead, the people of Jerusalem would have risen up to confront them; a child of seven years old would have been enough to confront them all. Away they went to another part of the world, and there began with their tales of one Jesus that lived and died and rose again, and that all who believe in Him will be saved by Him; and these untutored people, who had no means of ascertaining whether the statements were true or false, seeing the confidence with which they were asserted, were credulous enough to receive them, and thus your Christianity made a beginning in the world. Did it sot Let infidelity blush, if of a blush it is capable--which I very much doubt--for where shame is, virtue may be some day or other. Let infidelity blush!--at Jerusalem they did begin. On the very spot where the facts happened,there were those facts fearlessly and triumphantly proclaimed. They did not wait half a century, till a]most all that lived when the facts occurred were numbered with the dead. They went immediately; they began there on the very spot; there they preached a risen Saviour, and repentance and remission of sins in His name. Truth loves daylight, truth glories in the sunshine--invites attention, challenges examination, commands conviction and assent. Begin at Jerusalem! and does not this give to our Divine Christianity a character of the tenderest compassion? Begin at Jerusalem? I can almost imagine I hear Simon Peter, who had a warm heart and therefore a ready tongue, say to his Master--Oh! let it be rather anywhere but Jerusalem. Hast Thou forgotten how they treated Thy prophets before Thee? Hast Thou so soon forgotten how they treated Thyself?--how they despised Thy teaching and Thy prayers, and Thy entreaties and tears? Hast Thou so soon forgotten how they thirsted for Thy blood, and how they rested not till they had imbrued their hands in it? Look at Thy hands and side, do not they bear the marks of their cruelty?--Anywhere but Jerusalem. Such might be the language of man, but such was not the determination of our merciful Redeemer--As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Begin at Jerusalem. Though I bear the marks of their cruelty, they shall have the first offer of My clemency. Begin there. Go and try to find out those that falsely accused Me, and tell them I am ready to become their advocate, to plead their cause before the throne on high. Begin at Jerusalem --try to find out those that scourged Me, and tell them from Me, that by My stripes they may be healed. Begin at Jerusalem --find out those cruel wretches that mingled for Me in My extremity the cup of vinegar and gall, and tell them from Me, that at My hand they may receive the cup of salvation. Begin at Jerusalem--find out those that plaited the crown of thorns--that put it on--that smote Me with a reed, and mocked Me--and tell them from Me, that from Me they may receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. (R. Newton, D. D.)
The Churchs duty to those outside
Suppose you gentlemen who are in business received no business letters to-morrow morning when you reached your office, and you were expecting large remittances from abroad, you would be very much astonished. You would wait for the next post, and for the next, but I expect that, before noon, your excitement would be so great that you would hurry off, probably, to the General Post Office, and, if there was a universal non-delivery of letters in the city of London, you would really wish to see the Postmaster-General if he were within reach, or, at any rate, the postmaster of the main office. And what would be your criticism if, when you explained your troubles and the nondelivery of the letters, that official shrugged his shoulders, and calmly replied that the letters were all there, and that you were quite aware that the post-office was open from seven to ten, and that you bad only to call and you could have your letters. You would turn round and say, The Government pays you to deliver the letters at our address. And in the same way God has given you and me certain messages of mercy to the sinners in this neighbourhood, and it is our business to take those messages to them. (H. P. Hughes, M. A.)
Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem
Tarrying for fitness
I. THE FITNESS OF THE CHRISTIAN.
1. Its essential feature. Power. his comprehends all the fruits of the Spirit.
2. It is properly and distinctly a gift imparted from without and above. Endued with power from on high.
3. Its purpose. Not an ornament or accomplishment merely. It qualified men for various offices in the Church (Eph_4:7; Eph_4:11).
II. TARRYING FOR FITNESS. Great benefits require time for their realization: and spiritual exercise prepares for spiritual endowment.
1. By their enforced tarrying the disciples were taught that no man must thrust himself into the ministry of Christ.
2. The delay was an important element of their preparation.
3. The place for power is the place of Divine appointment. Why Jerusalem? It was full of associations of His ignominy and death. It contained the worst enemies of His cause. But Christ is Gods forgiveness. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Times of waiting
The time during which they were to tarry proved to be ten days--from the Thursday to the Sunday week following. It was just long enough to be a real test and trial. You may say, perhaps, considering the circumstances, it was a tremendous trial. And yet, mercifully, just shortened enough to be not intolerable--a discipline, but like every other from the Fathers hand, a discipline beautifully tempered. I am inclined to think that this interruption--I speak, of course, according to man--this interruption by ten days had a great design, and that it was to illustrate one very important part of Gods methods with all His children, at all times and under all circumstances. I see traces of the same method of dealing throughout the Bible. There is a pause, there is a breathing time, before anything falls. In judgments, the flood did not begin till not only a hundred and twenty years had passed, but not until seven days after the date for which it had been positively announced. And at Sodom, at Gomorrah, at Jericho, at Nineveh, at Jerusalem, there were intervals, distinct, between sentence and execution. While equally, many, I might say most, of the best blessings of which we read did not come till there had first been what you may call their period--a waiting-time. Sometimes it is very short, as in the case of the Syrophoenician woman, or Mary and Martha at Bethany, three or four days; sometimes longer, as with Abraham looking for a son, or Davids succession to his predicted throne; sometimes exceedingly protracted, as when good king Hezekiah never lived to see the answer to a fathers prayers in the conversion of his son, and yet, nevertheless, when the appointed moment came, his son was brought to God, though the lips that prayed it were silent. And what, what is the whole of this dispensation through which we are now passing? A space between two advents--a waiting time for that which seemed to be, and which apostles thought to be, quite close at the door two thousand years ago. Do you say that is too long to be a parallel, that is not an interval? Nay, a little while and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father. And we are dealing with One to whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The thought, then, which I wish to impress upon you, and which seems to me to be the lesson of this season is, that God is a God who delights in intervals--intervals as they relate to our little minds, but all an equal part in one grand design--and that the right viewing and the proper use of these intervals is an essential part of the Christians education. We ought to know how these intervals should be passed. First, you must have in your mind a remembrance that it is an interval, only an interval, an ordained interval, an interval with a defined boundary line--though you cannot see it--that it is in the map, that it is as much a part of the map of Gods covenant as the issue which is to come, or as the means which you are now using to obtain it. Then, acknowledging it as Gods own waiting time, you must honour Him. Shall the great God, all wise and true, be hurried by one of His creatures? Tarry thou the Lords leisure is written on the fore-front of all Gods government. Is not it enough for you that He has told you what?--are you to dictate the when, and determine the where? Still, while you keep the eye of expectation upon the horizon where the promise is to arise, keep your hand on the door. The hour is a fixed hour--it is in the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Then, in the interval, you will do well to do just what Christ told His little Church to do in this great model of all waiting--go on with present duties, be content for a little time to have a very small sphere, keep in the appointed path, and be sure that you use ordinances, be where all blessing comes, stay in Jerusalem. Then, in your Jerusalem, look to it that it is all love, else your prayers will be hindered. And, like the twelve--and this is a wonderful record, and shows how God blesses and honours His waiting ones, even when all outward circumstances are quite dark--spend the time in great joy. And be much in prayer, especially united prayer. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Endued with power from on high
Spiritual power
Our need to-day is the same as that of the apostles. Our work is prosecuted under different circumstances, but its difficulties are essentially the same. The weak things of the world have still to contend against the mighty, and can be equal to the struggle only in so far as they are made mighty by power from on high. And the promise to us is unchanged.
I. WHAT THIS SPIRITUAL POWER IS. In a word, it is intensity in every part of the Christian life. There is power in faith--the strong, simple, unwavering faith which so lays hold of a truth that it possesses and controls the soul, stirring its deepest sympathies, and awakening its mightiest faculties. There is power in the devoted loyalty to truth which leads a man to obey her call at whatever cost, to surrender wealth, ease, honour, and, what is as hard as all besides, personal prejudice, as well as interest for her sake. There is power in the courage which leads a man to work out his own ideal of duty; to speak what is true, and do what is right, without taking counsel with flesh and blood; to stand alone and defy a scoffing world, rather than compromise his integrity or betray his trust. There is power in sympathy--the gentle, loving, active compassion, which finds its chief delight in doing good; which unlocks the hearts of men as by a magic key, and establishes a rule within them by the force of its own unselfishness. There is power in the grandeur and sublimity imparted to life by its conscious association with another and eternal state of being, and the desire so to shape all its thoughts and words and deeds that it shall be but the fitting prelude to that better and purer life. There is power in devoted love to a high and noble Person: a love which not only inspires in the soul the earnest desire to partake of His goodness and beauty, but to forget itself in the daily effort to exalt and honour Him. All these elements are united in that spiritual power of which I speak.
II. THE NEED WHICH THE CHURCH HAS OF THIS POWER. It is the one great want of this age. With it, we need not be afraid of the utmost liberty; without it, there is no safety, even in the most watchful and zealous conservatism. With it, we shall be able to silence the gainsaying even of this sceptical generation; without it, we may employ the most cogent arguments, and put them in the most convincing form, and our labour will be utterly fruitless; for it is the hearts of men we have to move rather than their intellects, and hearts are only reached by the power of soul. With it, we may still have controversy, but there will be a counteractive force that will repress all its evil and violence;. without it, we may have uniformity and quiet, but in them there will be the seeds of corruption, decay, and death. With it, we may have a feeble agency and imperfect organization and defective plans, and yet out of their very weakness will be perfected strength; without it, we may have improvement in our machinery, but for lack of the motive power there will be no result. Give this, and everything will follow. The whole aspect of our religious condition will be altered, a new and more vigorous love will characterize the action of the Church, problems that seem insoluble will be settled, and difficulties that have been regarded as insuperable will be overcome.
III. HOW THIS POWER IS TO BE OBTAINED. It is power from on high. God gives it--gives it to every humble and trusting soul, gives it in answer to prayer, gives it liberally to all who earnestly seek. The first and great condition of it is absolute trust in Him. Nothing else can impart earnestness and sincerity to our supplications. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)
Power from on high
I propose to illustrate this description of the blessed Spirit--
I. BY THE EXTRAORDINARY EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON THE APOSTLES.
II. BY THE ORDINARY INFLUENCE EXERTED ON THEM AND ON ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS.
I. Consider, then, in these extraordinary gifts, which were only intended for the time, how mightily God wrought in man.
1. Take the gift of tongues.
2. Mark the illumination of the mind with the full truth.
3. Mark the power with which they spake. All was light, all feeling.
4. Mark their miracles of healing.
5. Note their discernment of spirits, as in the cases of Ananias and Simon Magus.
6. Finally, take their courage.
II. BY THE ORDINARY INFLUENCES EXERTED ON THE APOSTLES AND ON ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS. Let us, then, consider how this power manifests itself. And here, too, we shall see a mighty working of God in man, not inferior in real glory, and superior in grace, to those extraordinary illapses. This is displayed--
1. In the awakening of the soul of man from its deep and deadly sleep of sin.
2. Our subject is illustrated by the office of the Spirit as the
Comforter.
3. We have another instance in the office of the Spirit as the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier.
4. Take a final instance from the fruits of the Spirit.
I apply this subject to your edification by observing--
1. That there is a power promised to you more glorious than all the endowments of apostolic gifts.
2. Fix the greatness of the blessing before you.
3. Do you ask how you are to attain it? See your example in the apostles. Believe your Lord: I send the promise of My Father upon you.
4. Know that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Aspire, then, to this.
5. Ask the effusion of the Spirit upon your friends, the whole Church, and the world. (R. Watson.)
Power
The chief aim and labour of Boulton was the practical introduction of Warts steam engine as the great working power of England. With pride he said to Boswell, when visiting Soho, I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have--power. (Smiles.)
Power from on high
Some men are richly endowed with this priceless gift. When they speak their hearers feel that a supernatural power is grappling with them, and forcing them to yield or to set up a conscious resistance. People are often at a loss to account for the influence which such men possess. As men they see nothing in them to account for it; but they are compelled to feel and confess that mysterious something with which their entire being is surcharged. Mr. Carpenter, of New Jersey, a Presbyterian layman, who lived many years ago, presents a most striking instance of this wonderful power. His education was very limited, and his mental endowments were of the most ordinary kind. Till anointed of the Holy Ghost he was a mere cipher in the Church. As soon, however, as he received that anointing, he became a man of marvellous spiritual power. The hardest sinners melted under his appeals, and yielded to Christ. At his death it was stated that by a very careful inquiry it had been ascertained that more than ten thousand souls had been converted through his direct instrumentality. Finney is another instance. Soon after his conversion, we are told, he received a wonderful baptism of the Spirit, which was followed by marvellous effects. His words uttered in private conversation, and forgotten by himself, fell like live coals on the hearts of men, and awakened a sense of guilt, which would not let them rest till the blood of sprinkling was applied. At his presence, before he opened his lips, the operatives in a mill began to fall on their knees, and cry for mercy. When traversing Western and Central New York, he came to the village of Rome in a time of spiritual slumber. He had not been in the house of the pastor an hour before he had conversed with all the family, and brought them all to their knees seeking pardon or the fulness of the Spirit. In a few days every man, woman, and child in the village and vicinity was converted, and the work ceased from lack of material to transform; and the evangelist passed on to other fields to behold new triumphs of the gospel through his instrumentality. (John Griffith.)
New power
When I was preaching in Farwell Hall, in Chicago, I never worked harder to prepare my sermons than I did then. I preached and preached; but it was beating against the air. A good woman used to say, Mr. Moody, you dont seem to have power in your preaching. Oh, my desire was that I might have a fresh anointing. I requested this woman and a few others to come and pray with me every Friday at four oclock. Oh, how piteously I prayed that God might fill the empty vessel. After the fire in Chicago, I was in New York city, and going into the bank on Wall Street, it seemed as if I felt a strange and mighty power coming over me. I went up to the hotel, and there in my room I wept before God, and cried, Oh, my God, stay Thy hand! He gave me such fulness that it seemed more than I could contain. May God forgive me if I should speak in a boastful way, but I do not know that I have preached a sermon since, but God has given me some soul. Oh, I would not be back where I was four years ago for all the wealth of this world. If you would roll it at my feet, I would kick it away like a football. I seem a wonder to some of you, but I am a greater wonder to myself than to any one else. These are the very same sermons I preached in Chicago, word for word. It is not new sermons, but the power of God. It is not a new gospel, but the old gospel, with the Holy Ghost of power. (D. L. Moody.)
Need of the Spirit of God--the fire from heaven
Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a granite fort, and they told us that they intended to batter it down, we might ask them, How! They point to a cannon ball. Well, but there is no power in that; it is heavy, but not more than half-a-hundred or perhaps a hundred-weight; if all the men in the army hurled it against the fort they would make no impression. They say, No, but look at the cannon! Well, but there is no power in that. A child may ride upon it; a bird may perch in its mouth. It is a machine, and nothing more. But look at the powder. Well, there is no power in that; a child may spill it; a sparrow may peck it. Yet this powerless powder and powerless ball are put into the powerless cannon: one spark of fire enters it, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that cannon ball is a thunderbolt which smites as if it had been sent from heaven. So is it with our church or school machinery of this day; we have the instruments necessary for pulling down strongholds, but O for the fire from heaven! (W. Arthur.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v36 36–43. He himself stood in the midst of them.…
36–43. He himself stood in the midst of them. Though the doors were shut (John 20:19).
See my hands and my feet. Thomas, who was not present, referred afterwards to these tests (John 20:25). His body retained the marks of his suffering.
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While they still disbelieved for joy. They felt it was too good to be believed.
He took it, and did eat. As a proof that it was his bodily presence.
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.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v36 Luk 24:36-49; Joh 20:19-23. “Then, it being evening on…
JESUS APPEARS TO THE APOSTLES SUNDAY NIGHT
Luk 24:36-49; Joh 20:19-23. “Then, it being evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors being shut where the disciples were assembled on account of the fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace be unto you!” Soon after the arrival of the two disciples from Emmaus, who at once joined Peter and the sisters in their testimony to the resurrection, Jesus climaxes all and puts every doubt to flight by standing in their midst, ringing out His familiar salutation, “Peace be unto you.”
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Luke: “And being affrighted and terrified, they were thinking that they see a spirit.” Such is the heterogeneity between mortality and immortality that the sight of an angel or a disembodied spirit always fills mortals with trepidation. “And He said to them, Why are you disturbed? and why do reasonings arise in your heart? Behold My hands and My feet, that I am He; handle Me, and see; because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having.” When Omnipotence comes to the solution of all difficulties, faith should have complete swing. Christ appeared to Nebuchadnezzar in the fiery furnace with the Hebrew children nearly six hundred years before His incarnation, and actually visited Abraham at Mamre and ate with him, 1900 B. C., in both cases exhibiting a physical body so far as human senses could apprehend. Hence e need not conclude from this Scripture that His glorification was postponed till His ascension, as the facts are rather preponderant in favor of the conclusion that He was glorified when He arose from the dead. During the forty days, we read of His appearing to them but eleven times:
1. To the women.
2. To Mary Magdalene, and doubtless other women.
3. To Peter.
4. To Cleopas and his comrade at Emmaus.
5. To the twelve apostles.
6. On Sunday night, to the apostles and saints in their meeting.
7. On the Monday night a week following.
8. At the Sea of Galilee.
9. To the apostles and five hundred brethren in a Galilean mountain.
10. To James.
11. To all the apostles.
We are assured that He never lodged with them, and did not habitually eat with them after the resurrection; doubtless spending the nights and, so far as the record extends, at least nine-tenths of the day-time, in heaven.
Doubtless we have in the life of our Lord during these forty days a beautiful photograph of His millennial reign, when He will doubtless appear and disappear, ever and anon, in different parts of the world, and, I trow, much of the time will be absent in heaven. In a similar manner, the transfigured saints, who shall rule the world as the subordinates of Christ, since they will no longer need mortal food nor sleep, will ever and anon appear at their posts of duty during the day, disappearing ad libitum, and spending the night in heaven.
“And they, still disbelieving and wondering from joy, He said to them, Have you here any food? And they gave Him a piece of baked fish; and taking it, He ate in their presence.” You see here the terrible struggle of their faith to apprehend and appropriate clearly and unequivocally the grand and paradoxical fact of His resurrection from the dead, and at the same time the conflict of overwhelming joy, inundating them with transporting rapture, thus the excitement antagonizing the necessary deliberation for faith to appropriate the glorious reality. This appeal to their senses by eating in their presence, we are to regard as a miracle for their conviction and the establishment of their faith, as we have no account of His eating except in this instance.
Joh 20:20. “Saying this, He showed them His hands and His side, and His disciples rejoiced, seeing the Lord.” These appeals to their physical senses do not prove anything physical on His part, as you see He did the same to Abraham and Nebuchadnezzar, and even on a grander scale, long before His incarnation. We must not get so critical as to lay embargoes on Omnipotence.
Luk 24:44-45 : “And He said to them, These are My words which I spoke to you, being yet with you, That it behooveth all things which have been written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms, concerning Me, to be fulfilled. Then He opened their mind, that they might understand the Scriptures.” Lord, help us to learn the indisputable fact that if Thou dost not open our minds, we will never understand the Scriptures. Preachers study till their heads are gray, and know so little about the Scriptures that an illiterate, sanctified Ethiopian would be an exceedingly profitable teacher. We must learn how to sit meek and lowly, like little children, at the feet of Jesus, trusting Him to open our minds, so we can understand His precious Word. The carnal wisdom of colleges will never reach the emergency.
“And He said to them, that it has been thus written that Christ is to suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day; and that repentance unto the remission of sins is to be preached among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” We here have the commission of our Lord, as given by Luke, in which repentance is the salient grace conducive to the remission of sins. The E. V. here omits eis, “unto,” much to the weakening of this wonderful passage, which Luke, in his Acts of the Apostles 2:38, parallels, “Repent, and be baptized unto the remission of your sins;” the baptism being ceremonial and symbolic of the spiritual realities revealed in these two passages, in both of which Luke formulates repentance the condition and antecedent of remission, — in the one, Peter, on the day of Pentecost, using the verb; while here, in the commission, our Lord uses the noun, and commands His apostles and their successors to preach it to all nations; i. e., “repentance unto remission of sins.” This is in perfect harmony with Paul’s commission (Act 18:26), in which he offers remission of sins and sanctification through faith alone. These two commissions are in perfect harmony, as repentance breaks off the yoke of Satan, and faith receives that of Christ, these two fundamental graces constituting the positive and negative poles of the salvation battery, the one always including the other.
“You are witnesses of these things. And I send upon you the promise of the Father; and you abide in the city until you may be endued with dynamite from on high.” There are two Greek words prominently used and translated “power.” Here rite word is dunamis, Anglicized “dynamite.” This is certainly very significant of the wonderful blessing they received at Pentecost; i. e., the dynamite of heaven, which blows all inbred sin out of us. How dares any Church to send out a preacher before he has complied with this great commandment of the Infallible! You see plainly that our Lord provides for the sanctification of all his preachers before they go out to battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The only reason why we have not conquered the world long ago, and brought back the Lord in his millennial victory and glory to transform the world into a paradise, is because of the departure from the Divine order, preachers and elders having the audacity to take the management of the Church into their own hands and run it to suit themselves, actually treating with contempt the positive and unequivocal commandment of our Savior requiring every preacher, in prayer and humiliation, to await the heavenly enduement of Pentecostal dynamite; i. e., the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire.
Joh 20:21-22. “Then Jesus said to them again, Peace be unto you; as the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.” O the transcendent honor and the momentous responsibility of going in the room of Jesus, by Him invested and endued, as He was by His Father when He came on the earth, preaching the everlasting gospel! “Saying this, He breathed on them, and says to them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” We must not conclude that people do not receive the Holy Ghost in the regenerated experience. They do receive Him in a measure; while in sanctification He comes in His fullness to abide in the heart. You must remember that these apostles had all stumbled during that dark period from the Gethsemane midnight till the resurrection morn. He said to them, “You will all be offended in Me this night.” They were offended — i. e., stumbled — actually giving up their faith in His Christhood, and simply believed on Him as the greatest prophet the world had seen. Hence they needed the enduement of the Holy Ghost to restore and reestablish them in the faith of His Christhood.
“Whosesoever sins you may remit, are remitted unto them; whosesoever sins you may retain, have been retained.” This passage has, by the Romanists, been pressed far into ritualism and priestcraft. The apostles and their successors, as He here says, were invested with the gospel commission to preach and work for Jesus till He returns in His glory. The Word is our authority. Hence, in the application of God’s revealed truth, there is a sense in which the called and sent minister, as the substitute and subordinate of Christ, does remit or retain sins. It is the key-power (Matthew 16) which Jesus committed to Peter and all the apostles, and to their successors to the end of time.
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 v36 Luk 24:36 - Luk 24:53.
Luke
THE TRIUMPHANT END
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Luk 24:36 - Luk 24:53.
There are no marks of time in this passage, and, for anything that appears, the narrative is continuous, and the Ascension might have occurred on the evening of the Resurrection. But neither is there anything to forbid interpreting this close of Luke’s Gospel by the fuller details contained in the beginning of his other treatise, the Acts, where the space of forty days interposes between the Resurrection and the Ascension. It is but reasonable to suppose that an author’s two books agree, when he gives no hint of change of opinion, and it is reasonable to regard the narrative in this passage as a summary of the whole period of forty days. If so, it contains three things,-the first appearance of the risen Lord to the assembled disciples {Luk 24:36 - Luk 24:43}, a condensed summary of the teachings of the risen Lord {Luk 24:44 - Luk 24:49}, and an equally compressed record of the Ascension {Luk 24:50 - Luk 24:53}.
I. The proofs of the Resurrection graciously granted to incredulous love {Luk 24:36 - Luk 24:43}.
The disciples were probably assembled in the upper room, where the Lord’s Supper had been instituted, and which became their ordinary meeting-place {Act 1:1 - Act 1:26} up till Pentecost. What sights that room saw! There, when night had come, they were discussing the strange reports of the Resurrection, when, all suddenly, they saw Jesus, not coming or moving, but standing in the midst. Had He come in unnoticed by them in their eager talk? The doors were shut. How had this calm Presence become visible all at once?
So little were they the enthusiastic, credulous people whom modern theories which explain away the Resurrection assume them to have been, that even His familiar voice in His familiar salutation, tenfold more significant now than ever before, did not wake belief that it was verily He. They fled to the ready refuge of supposing that they saw ‘a spirit.’ Our Lord has no rebukes for their incredulity, but patiently resumes His old task of instruction, and condescends to let them have the evidence of two senses, not shrinking from their investigating touch. When even these proofs were seen by Him to be insufficient, He added the yet more cogent one of ‘eating before them.’ Then they were convinced.
Now their incredulity is important, and the acknowledgment shows the simple historical good faith of the narrator. A witness who at first disbelieved is all the more trustworthy. These hopeless mourners who had forgotten all Christ’s prophecies of His Resurrection, and were so fixed in their despair that the two from Emmaus could not so far kindle a gleam of hope as to make them believe that their Lord stood before them, were not the kind of people in whom hallucination would operate, as modern deniers of the Resurrection make them out to have been. What changed their mood? A fancy? Surely nothing less than a solid fact. Hallucination may lay hold on a solitary, morbid mind, but it does not attack a company, and it scarcely reaches to fancying touch and the sight of eating.
Note Luke’s explanation of the persistent incredulity, as being ‘for joy.’ It is like his notice that the three in Gethsemane ‘slept for sorrow.’ Great emotion sometimes produces effects opposite to what might have been expected. Who can wonder that the mighty fact which turned the black smoke of despair into bright flame should have seemed too good to be true? The little notice brings the disciples near to our experience and sympathy. Christ’s loving forbearance and condescending affording of more than sufficient evidence show how little changed He was by Death and Resurrection. He is as little changed by sitting at the right hand of God. Still He is patient with our slow hearts. Still He meets our hesitating faith with lavish assurances. Still He lets us touch Him, if not with the hand of sense, with the truer contact of spirit, and we may have as firm personal experience of the reality of His life and Presence as had that wondering company in the upper room.
II. Luk 24:44 - Luk 24:49 are best taken as a summary of the forty days’ teaching.
They fall into stages which are distinctly separated. First we have {ver. 44} the reiteration of Christ’s earlier teaching, which had been dark when delivered, and now flashed up into light when explained by the event. ‘These are my words which I spake,’ and which you did not understand or note. Jesus asserts that He is the theme of all the ancient revelation. If we suppose that the present arrangement of the Old Testament existed then, its present three divisions are named; namely, Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa, as represented by its chief member. But, in any case, He lays His hand on the whole book, and declares that He, and His Death as sacrifice, are inwrought into its substance. ‘The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’ Whatever views we hold as to the date and manner of origin of the Old Testament books, we miss the most pregnant fact about them if we fail to recognise that they all point onwards to Him.
Another stage is marked by that remarkable expression, ‘He opened their mind.’ His teaching was not, like ours, from without only. He gave not merely instruction, but inspiration. It was not enough to spread truth before the disciples. He did more; He made them able to receive it. He gives no lesser gifts from the throne than He gave in the upper room, and we may receive, if our minds are kept expectant and in touch with Him, the same inward eye to see wondrous things out of the Word.
Luk 24:46, by its repetition of ‘and He said,’ seems to point to another stage, in which the teaching as to the meaning of the Old Testament passes into instructions for the future. Already Jesus had hinted at the cessation of the old close intercourse in that pathetic ‘while I was yet with you,’ and now He goes on to outline the functions and equipment of the disciples in the future period of His absence. As to the past sufferings, He indicates a double necessity for them,-one based on their having been predicted; another, deeper, based on the fitness of things. These sufferings made the preaching of repentance and forgiveness possible, and imposed on His followers the obligation of preaching His name to all the world. Without the Cross His servants would have no gospel. Having the Cross, His servants are bound to publish it everywhere.
The universal reach of His atonement is implied in the commission. The sacrifice for the world’s sin is the sole ground of remission of sin, and is to be proclaimed to every creature. Mark that here the same word is employed in connection with proclaiming Christ’s Death as in John’s version of this saying {Joh 20:23}, which is misused as a fortress of the priestly power of absolution. The plain inference is that the servant’s power of remission is exercised by preaching the Master’s death of expiation.
The ultimate reach of the message is to be to all nations; the beginning of the universal gospel is to be at Jerusalem. The whole history of the world and the Church lies between these two. By that command to begin at Jerusalem, the connection of the Old with the New is preserved, the Jewish prerogative honoured, the path made easier for the disciples, the development of the Church brought into unison with their natural sentiments and capacities.
The spirit of the commandment remains still imperative. ‘The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.’ A wise and Christlike beneficence will not gaze far afield, and neglect things close at our doors. The scoff at the supporters of foreign missions, as if they quixotically went abroad when they should work at home, has no point even as regards Christian practice, for it is the people who work for the distant heathen who also toil for home ones; but it has still less ground in regard to Christian conceptions of duty, for the Lord of the harvest has bidden the reapers begin with the fields nearest them.
The equipment for work is investiture with divine power. A partial bestowment of the Spirit, which is the Father’s promise, took place while Jesus spoke. ‘I send’ refers to something done at the moment; but the fuller clothing with that garment of power was to be waited for in expectancy and desire. No man can do the Christian work of witnessing for and of Christ without that clothing with power. It was granted as an abiding gift on Pentecost. It needs perpetual renewal. We may all have it. Without it, eloquence, learning, and all else, are but as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.
III. Luk 24:50 give us the transcendent miracle which closes the earthly life of Jesus.
We cannot here enter on the large questions which it raises, but must content ourselves with simply pointing to the salient features of Luke’s condensed account. The mention of the place as ‘over against Bethany’ recalls the many memories of that village where Jesus had found His nearest approach to a home, where He had exercised His stupendous life-giving power, whence He had set out to the upper room and the near Cross. His last act was to bless His followers. He is the High-priest for ever, and these uplifted hands meant a sacreder thing than the affectionate good wishes of a departing friend. He gives the blessings which He invokes. His wish is a conveyance of good.
The hands remained in the attitude of benediction while He ascended, and the last sight of Him, as the cloud wrapped Him round, showed Him shedding blessing from them. He continues that attitude and act till He comes again. Two separate motions are described in verse 51. He was parted from them,-that is, withdrew some little distance on the mountain, that all might see, and none might hinder, His departure; and ‘was carried up into heaven’ by a slow upward movement, as the word implies. Contrast this with Elijah’s rapture. There was no need of fiery chariot or whirlwind to lift Jesus to the heavens. He went up where He was before, returning to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. The end matches the beginning. The supernatural birth corresponds with the supernatural departure.
We have to think of that Ascension as the entrance of corporeal humanity into the divine glory, as the beginning of His heavenly activity for the world, as the token of His work being triumphantly completed, as the prophecy and pledge of immortal life like His own for all who love Him. Therefore we may share the joy which flooded the lately sorrowful disciples’ hearts, and, like them, should make all life sacred, and be continually in the Temple, blessing God, and have the deep roots of our lives hid with Christ in the 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 v36 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXVIII. Fifth Appearance…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXVIII. Fifth Appearance of Jesus].
CXXXVIII. FIFTH APPEARANCE OF JESUS. (Jerusalem. Sunday evening) bMARK XVI. 14; cLUKE XXIV. 36-43; dJOHN XX. 19-25.
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b14 And afterward cas they spake these things [while the two from Emmaus were telling their story], bhe was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at [751] meat; d19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus chimself dcame and stood in the midst, cof them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they beheld a spirit. [His entrance through a bolted door lent weight to their idea that he had no corporeal body. They knew nothing of the possibilities of a resurrected body.] band he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart [here, as in the previous section, Jesus shows that the heart has much to do with the belief], because they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen. [They had had the testimony of three men and perhaps a half dozen women; they had not lacked evidence.] c38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and wherefore do questionings arise in your heart? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having. 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. dand his side. [These members not only showed that he was not a disembodied spirit, but they served to identify his body with that which they had seen crucified, and hence the person who now spoke was the Jesus whom they had known and lost.] c41 And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here anything to eat? 42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish. 43 And he took it, and ate before them. [Thus at last satisfying them that he was not a ghost.] dThe disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: 23 whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. [Now that the apostles [752] knew their Master, he repeats his blessing, and as the New Testament is now sealed in his blood according to the commission under which he came, he, in turn, commissions the twelve to go forth and proclaim its provisions. Symbolic of the baptism which they were to receive at Pentecost, he breathes upon them, and, having thus symbolically qualified them, he commissions them to forgive or retain sin, for this was the subject-matter of the New Testament.] 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus [see p. 244], was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. [The apostles had undoubtedly seen and talked with someone, but the question was, Who? They said that it was Jesus, and Thomas, holding this to be impossible, thought that it must have been someone else whom they mistook for Jesus. But he would not be deceived; he would thoroughly examine the wounds, for these would identify Jesus beyond all doubt--if it were Jesus.]
[FFG 751-753]
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v36 The Last Appearances of Christ.
The Last Appearances of Christ.
Easter evening:
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v. 36. And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you!
v. 37. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
v. 38. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
v. 39. Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.
v. 40. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet.
While the Emmaus disciples were still recounting the happenings of the afternoon, Jesus Himself suddenly stood in the midst of the assembly, His appearance here being as unexpected as His departure from Emmaus had been few hours before. He greeted them with the greeting of peace, which should have reassured them at once. His resurrection, as it had been announced through a number of witnesses in the course of the day, was a fact. He was now standing before the eyes of His disciples, alive and well. True, there was a difference. His body now partook of the nature of a spirit. With it He had passed through the sealed tomb and through the locked doors. It was no longer subject to the natural laws governing time and place. And He brought them the wonderful gift of peace, peace in the highest and best sense of the term. He has made peace through the blood of His cross, Col 1:20. The wrath of God was satisfied through His suffering and death. And by the resurrection of Christ this peace is sealed to all believers. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Strange to say, this sudden appearance of Christ under such unusual circumstances filled the disciples with the greatest fear and terror. Whereas a few minutes ago they had mutually congratulated themselves that He was risen indeed, they now had the idea that they were looking upon a ghost. Jesus therefore rebukes them kindly, but earnestly for their unbelief. They should not be so utterly disturbed, nor should thoughts of such a nature arise in their hearts. He invited them to look closely at His hands and feet, with the marks of His crucifixion plainly showing. And if the evidence of one sense did not suffice, they should take their fingers and pass over His body and convince themselves that there was no ghost before them, but their old true Friend and Master. That same Jesus of Nazareth that was born of the Virgin Mary, that suffered under Pontius Pilate, that was crucified and died, He stood before them. This Christ is also in the state of exaltation true man according to body and soul, our flesh and blood, our Brother in all eternity. Only His is a glorified body. In and with this body He is our Savior and Redeemer, as the nail-wounds in His hands and feet showed. And this is incidentally our guarantee that He will change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body; Php 3:21. But with spiritism this appearance had nothing whatever to do. "Therefore we should know that all false ghosts and visions that permit themselves to be seen and heard, especially with rattling and blustering, are not the souls of men, but certainly devils, that thus have their sport, in order either to deceive people with false pretense and lies, or to terrorize and plague them in vain. This I say that we may be sensible and not let ourselves be deceived with respect to such frauds and lies, as the devil till now has deceived and fooled, under the name of spirits, even fine people"
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 vv36, 38 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus appears to the disciples. When the two men previously arrived at the house where the Eleven were, Jesus was not with them.
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Jesus himself
The word "himself" focuses on Jesus and the surprise of Jesus actually appearing to them. Most of them had not seen him after his resurrection. (See: Reflexive Pronouns)
in the midst of them
"among them"
Peace be to you
"May you have peace" or "May God give you peace!" The word "you" is plural. (See: Forms of You)
But they were terrified
"But" indicates a strong contrast. Jesus told them to be at peace, but they were very afraid instead.
terrified and filled with fear
"startled and afraid." These two phrases mean about the same thing, and are used together to emphasize their fear. (See: Doublet)
supposed that they saw a spirit
"thought that they were seeing a ghost." They did not yet truly understand that Jesus was really alive.
a spirit
Here it refers to the spirit of a dead person.
translationWords
peace
terror
fear
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 v39 24:39 ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that…
24:39 ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do: In his resurrected state, Jesus was not an immaterial spirit, but had a real immortal and imperishable body. Believers will receive similar bodies at the final resurrection (1 Cor 15:35-57).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.