To do this in all gentleness, he first answers her human affection, letting her once again hear her own name on his well-known voice. That was just the note which was in full unison with all that was then in her heart. It was the only note to which her soul could have responded. Had he appeared to her in heavenly glory, he would still have been a stranger to her; for as yet she knew him only as Jesus. But this must be the last time she was to apprehend him “after the flesh.” For he is now risen from the dead, and is on his way to the Father in heaven, and earth must no longer be the scene of their communion. “Touch me not,” says he to her, “for I am not yet ascended to my Father.”
I need not, perhaps, observe how fully characteristic of our gospel all this is. In Matthew, on the contrary, we see the women, on their return from the sepulcher, meeting the Lord, and the Lord allowing them to hold his feet, and to worship him: but here, it is to Mary, “Touch me not.” For this gospel tells us of the Son in the midst of the heavenly family, and not in his royalty in Israel and in his earthly glory. The resurrection, it is most true, pledges all that earthly glory and kingdom to him (Acts 13:3434And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. (Acts 13:34)); but it was also one stage to the heavenly places, and that is the feature of it which our gospel gives us.
Mary, as we have seen, is entitled to be the first to learn these greater ways of his grace and love, and also to be the happy bearer of the same good tidings from this far and unknown country to the brethren. Jesus says to her, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
Thus, is she honored, and she goes to prepare the brethren for their Lord, while he prepares to meet them with a blessing beyond all which they had as yet attained. And her tidings seem to have got them all in readiness for him; for on his seeing them, the evening of the same day, they are not amazed and in unbelief, as they are in Luke’s Gospel, but seem all to be in waiting and expectation. They are no longer scattered as before (ver. 10), but folded together as the family of God, and the elder brother enters in, laden with the fruit of his holy travail for them.,
This was a meeting indeed. It was a visit to the family of the heavenly Father by the First-born. It was in a place that lay beyond death and outside the world. And such indeed is the place of appointed meeting with our Lord. Those who in spirit stay here, never meet him. For he is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of strangers and pilgrims. The world is a defiled place, and we must meet him in resurrection, in the kingdom that is not of the world.
So was it here with the Lord and his brethren. He now, for the first time, really meets them, meets them in the appointed place outside the world, and meets them in no less character than his own brethren. Now it was that he began to pay his vows. He had made them on the cross. (Psalms 22) First, that he would declare the Father’s name to the brethren: secondly, that in the midst of the Church he would sing his praise. The first of these he was now beginning to pay, and has been paying all through this present dispensation, making known to our souls the name of the Father through the Holy Ghost. And the second he will as certainly pay, when the congregation of all the brethren is gathered, and he leads their songs in resurrection—joy forever.
Now also is the promised life actually imparted. “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also.” The Son of God, having life in himself, now conies with it to his saints. He breathes on them now, as of old into their nostrils. (Genesis 2) Only this was the breath of the second Adam, the quickening Spirit, who had a life to impart that was won from the power of death, and which was therefore beyond its utmost reach. The brethren are now given to know that Christ was in the Father, and they in him, and he in them. They know the full peace of the cross also. He spews them his hands and his side. Their sorrow is turned into joy, for they were glad “when they saw the Lord.” He was revealing himself to them, as he does not unto the world. The world, in this little interview, was quite shut out; and the disciples, as hated of the world, are shut up within their own enclosure, just in the place to get a special manifestation of himself to them, as he had said unto them. (19: 22-24.) In the world they were knowing tribulation, but in him peace.
All this was theirs in this blessed little visit of “the First-born from the dead” to his brethren, imparting to them the blessing which belonged to them as children. And thus, this little intercourse was a sample of the communion which we enjoy in this dispensation. Our communion with Christ does not change our condition in the world, or make us happy in mere circumstances; it leaves us in a place of trial. But we are happy in Himself, in the full sense of his presence and favor. We are taught, as they here were, to know our oneness with Jesus; and, through Him, our adoption, and fellowship with the Father. As we lately saw the armor of the conquered enemy strewing the distant field of battle, so here do we see the fruit of victory brought home to gladden and assure the kindred of the conqueror.
And these fruits of the victory of the Son of God were now commanded to be carried about in holy triumph all the world over. “As my Father bath sent me, even so send I you,” says the Lord to his brethren. With a message, not of judgment, but of grace, had he himself come forth from the Father. And with a commission of the same grace are the brethren sent forth. They are sent forth from the Lord of life and peace, and with such a ministry they test the condition of every living soul. The message they bear is from the Son of the Father, a message of peace and life secured in and by himself; and the word then was and still is, “He that hath the Son, bath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life”—and the Lord adds, making them, in this, the test of the condition of every one, as having the Son or not, “Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
Such was the Lord’s first interview with his disciples after he had risen from the dead. It has set before us the saints as the children of the Father, and their ministry as such, and given us a sample or first-fruits of that harvest in the Holy Ghost, which they have been gathering ever since in this dispensation.
And though it may draw me aside for a little space, I cannot refuse noticing that the ministry committed to the disciples by the Lord, after he rose from the dead, takes a distinct character in each of the gospels. And as each of the gospels has a distinct purpose, — (according to which all the narratives are selected and recorded), so the various language used by the Lord in each of the gospels in committing this ministry to his disciples is to be accounted for, and interpreted by, the specific character of the gospel itself.
In Matthew this commission runs thus:— “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Now this commission was strictly to the apostles, who had been already ordained by the Lord, and associated with him as minister of the circumcision. (Romans 15:88Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: (Romans 15:8).) It contemplated them as in Jerusalem, and going forth from thence for the discipling of all nations, and for the keeping of them in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. For it is the purpose of that gospel to present the Lord, in Jewish connection, as the hope of Israel, to whom the gathering of the nations was to be. And accordingly, the conversion of nations, and time settlement of the whole world around Jerusalem, as the center of worship, is assumed. A system of restored and obedient nations rejoicing with Israel will be exhibited by and by; and the risen Lord looks to that when committing ministry to his apostles in the gospel by Matthew.
But in Mark this prospect of national conversion is a good deal qualified. The terms of the commission are these:— “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” It is not the discipling of nations that is contemplated, but universal testimony with partial acceptance it for Mark presents the Lord in service or ministry; and the case of some receiving the word and some receiving it not is anticipated, because such are the results that have attended on all ministry of the word; as it is said in one place, “ Some believed the things that were spoken, and some believed not.”
In St. Luke, the Lord, after interpreting Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms, and opening the understanding of the disciples to understand them, delivers ministry to them in this way:— “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” This commission does not appear to have been strictly to the eleven, but others were addressed by it. (See Luke 24:3333And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, (Luke 24:33).) And their ministry was to begin with Jerusalem, and not from it. And they are not allowed to go forth in their ministry till they had received new power, thus allowing that what they had received from Jesus, while still on earth, was not sufficient. And all this was a breaking away from mere earthly or Jewish order. This was, therefore, the commission with something of an altered character, suitable to this gospel by Luke, which presents the Lord more abroad, and not strictly in Jewish association.
But now, in our gospel by John, we do not get this commission at all, nor any mention of the power from on high.”
We simply get, as I have been noticing, the life of the risen Man imparted, and then the disciples with that life in them sent out to test, by virtue of it, the condition of every living soul. The Lord gives them their ministry as from heaven, and not from the mountain in Galilee. He sends them forth from the Father, and not from Jerusalem. For, in our gospel, the Lord has left all recollections of Jerusalem behind, and has given up, for the present, all hope of restoring Israel, and gathering the nations.
This variety in the terms of this commission and ministry is very striking, and, considering the different purposes of each gospel, it is exquisite and perfect. The mere reasoner may stumble at it, and the man who honors the Scripture, and would fain preserve its fair reputation, may attempt many ways to show the literal consistency of these things. But the word of God, beloved, does not ask for protection from man. It seeks for no apologies to be made for it, however well intentioned. In all this there is no incongruity, but only variety, and that variety perfectly answering the divers purposes of the same Spirit. And though thus various, every thought arid every word in each is equally and altogether divine, and we have only to bless our God for the sureness and comfort and sufficiency of his own most perfect testimonies.
But this, brethren, by the way, desiring that the Lord may keep our minds in all our meditations, and in all the counsels of our hearts.
We left the Lord in company with his brethren. He was putting them into their condition as children of the Father, and raising them to heavenly places. But he has purposes touching Israel as well as the Church. In the latter day, he will call them to repentance and faith, giving them their due standing and ministry also. And these things we shall have now in order unfolded before us.
Thomas, we read, was not with the brethren when the Lord visited them. He did not keep his first estate, but was absent while the little gathering were holding themselves in readiness for their risen Lord; and now he refuses to believe his brethren, without the further testimony of his own hands and eyes.
And the Jews to this day, like Thomas then, are refusing the gospel or good tidings of the risen Lord, All, however, was not to end thus. Thomas recovers his place, and “after eight days” is in company with the brethren again, and then Jesus presents himself to him. And the unbelieving disciple is led to own him as his Lord and his God. As by-and-by, “after eight days,” after a full week or dispensation has run its course, it will be said in the land of Israel, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Israel will own Immanuel then; and as the Lord here accepts Thomas, so will he then say of Israel, “Thou art my people.”
But here we are to notice something further significant. The Lord accepts Thomas, it is most true, but at the same time says to him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” And so with Israel in the latter day. They shall know the peace of the cross, the full peace of the wounded hand and side of Jesus here shown to Thomas; but they shall take a blessing inferior to the Church. They shall get life from the Son of God; but they shall only walk on the footstool, while the saints are sitting on the throne.
Here the mystery of life, whether to the Church now, or to Israel by-and-by, closes, and our Evangelist, accordingly, for a moment pauses. This was the gospel of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, which whosoever believeth has life in his name. Many other things might have been added, but these were enough to attest the Son, and thus to be the seed of life. The third witness from God had now been heard. The water and the blood had come forth from the crucified Son, and now the Spirit was given by the risen Son. The three that bear witness on earth had been heard, and the testimony from God, that he “hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son,” was therefore complete; and our Evangelist just says, “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
21. Thus have we seen life actually dispensed by the risen Lord to his brethren, and ministry committed to them as such; and we have seen life pledged to Israel in the person of Thomas. But this restored Thomas, or the Israel of God in the latter day, shall (like the Church now) get ministry as well as life, be used as well as quickened. And we get the pledge of this also now in due order.
In the opening of this chapter we see the apostles brought back to the condition in which the Lord at first met them. Peter and the sons of Zebedee are again at their fishing. Indeed, their former labor had come to nothing. Their nets had broken. The Lord had proposed to use them, but Israel in his hand had proved but a deceitful bow, a broken net. But now they are at their toil again, and the Lord appears again, and gives them a second draft. And on this, in company with the Lord himself, they feast; and their nets remain unbroken.
And thus, will it be with the Israel of God in the latter day. Like Thomas, as we have seen, they shall walk in the light of the Lord, and then, as here, the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto them. Waters shall issue from the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, and fishers shall there stand and spread their nets, and their fish shall be of “the great sea, exceeding many.” (Ezekiel 47: 10.) “The great sea,” the wide Mediterranean, as the prophet suggests, and not the narrow lake of Tiberias, shall then employ their nets, and the fish shall be “according to their kinds; “for Midian, and Ephah, and Kedar, and Nebaioth, and all lands shall yield their stores then. And the net shall still be ready for other drafts—the unbroken net. One generation shall tell his praise unto another, and shall declare his power.
Our evangelist notices that this was “the third time” that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was risen from the dead. At the first, as we saw, he met the brethren to give them, as the heavenly family, their fellowship and ministry. At the second, he restored Thomas, the representative of Israel’s final conversion and life. And now, at the third, he gives the pledge of Israel’s ministry and fruitfulness unto God.
These three distinct visits give us, after this manner, the full view of the Church and of Israel. But I must particularly notice another acting of the consciousness of love, which is very sweet. Peter knew, in spite of all that had happened, that there was a link between him and the Lord; and Peter therefore is not afraid to be alone with him. The last time they had been together, it is true, Peter had denied him; and the Lord had turned and looked upon him. But Peter knew that he loved his Lord notwithstanding; and now he is not afraid to cast himself into the sea, and reach Jesus alone before the rest of them. And there is something truly blessed in this. Law could never have brought this about, nor indeed have warranted it. The rod of the law would have beaten him off, and made him keep his distance. Nothing but grace could allow this: nothing but the cords of love could have drawn denying Peter the nearest to his slighted Lord after this manner. But there is more still.
(Continued from p. 236.) (To be continued.)