Resurrection Scenes: Six Addresses on the Eleven Appearings
Walter Thomas Prideaux Wolston
Table of Contents
Address 1: Mary Magdalene and Her Message
(John 20:1-18; Acts 1:1-3.)JON 20:1-18ACT 1:1-3
THE "Forty Days” which we are now to consider are the last of the series presented in Scripture. They are full of the actings and words of a Man risen from the dead, who has accomplished redemption, and is about to pass into the glory of God, and I should like to say a little to-night, and for some nights to come, of the manifestations of the Lord to His disciples during the forty days He was on the earth after His resurrection.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was the precious and blessed evidence of the completeness of that atoning work which He had come to effect. He has passed into glory now, and that is where you and I know him, but His various and many appearances on earth were necessary, in the ways of God, to attest the fact of His resurrection, and by “many infallible proofs" it was wonderfully proven. The position which the Lord took up during those forty days, that of a Man who had died out of this scene, and yet who was alive unto God here upon the earth, moving and speaking by the Holy Ghost, is the just expression of what Christianity is for you and me now. He was a Man alive from the dead upon the earth, and He spoke and acted in the Holy Ghost. And what is a Christian? A Christian is one who has died out of this scene, in the death of Christ, and yet now lives. As Paul says, " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20). But everything is by the Holy Ghost.
I quite admit that the day of the Holy Ghost did not come during those forty days when the Lord was here. He went on high, and after ten days had rolled by, the Spirit of God came down on the day of Pentecost. But what one sees here is this, a Man alive on the earth in the full power of the Holy Ghost. It is thus the Acts of the Apostles opens, when Luke says, " The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen " (Acts 1:1, 2). Now Christianity takes pattern from Christ always, and I believe that here we have the pattern before us of what a Christian is. Christ was then a Man alive from the dead, walking in the power of the Holy Ghost, in relationship with God; and you and I, fellow-believer, are now privileged to enter into the same blessed and wonderful relationship, a divine position into which we are brought in virtue of our association with Christ.
One of the most blessed things about these " forty days " is this, that on the very day He rose from the dead, the Lord appears to one of His disciples, and brings out this most precious truth in a way that is absolutely charming to the soul that gets hold of it. To Mary Magdalene He said, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John 20:17). This was the most wondrous message that ever came through mortal lips, and Mary uttered it that day. Never before could that have been said, but, redemption accomplished, the moment had arrived for bringing out the new and heavenly place into which those whom the Lord Jesus called His brethren, as associated with Himself, are introduced. They are to be now in relationship with God, known as the Father, in virtue of His death and resurrection.
In all these appearances of the Lord we get very blessed and precious truths presented to our souls. He loved to assure His own of His identity and His love, "To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God " (Acts 1:3). The knowledge of the Father was to mark the sphere of which He Himself is the Centre and Head, and He was bringing His disciples, in these resurrection scenes, into fresh touch with Himself, and connecting their hearts with Himself. These scenes, therefore, I need not say, will have a very peculiar interest to every heart that loves Him.
I wonder how many times He was seen after He rose? When the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians to prove His resurrection and meet their Sadducean folly, he only cites five instances, though of course there were a great many more. I judge that we have eleven occasions given to us in the Scripture where the Lord was seen on earth in resurrection. I will indicate them; although to-night I shall only speak of the first.
He appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9); then to her Galilean friends (Matt. 28:9); then to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5); then to the two going to Emmaus (Luke 24:15); and last of all to a company in the upper room (John 20:19). Thomas was not there then. That gives five on the day of His resurrection. The next Lord's Day He appeared again to the apostles when Thomas was with them (John 20:26). Later on He appeared to seven of them, down in Galilee (John 21:1). That was the seventh time. I know it was the seventh, because Scripture says it was the third. That is a very curious thing, you say. Well, it must have been the seventh, because He was seen five times on the first day, then again the next Lord's Day, the sixth, and now this is the seventh. Then He appeared to the eleven disciples down in Galilee at the mountain side (Matt. 28:16, 17). That is the eighth. Then we are told He was “seen of above five hundred brethren at once “(1 Cor. 15:6). That was the ninth. Then He was seen of James (1 Cor. 15:7). That is the tenth. “Then of all the apostles “(1 Cor. 15:7). That was the time, I apprehend, when He led them out to Bethany, as recorded in Luke 24:50. That is the eleventh. There was also a twelfth, for Paul says, " And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time" (1 Cor. 15:8), but this was in glory. That is to say, the close carries you to the spot where Christ now is. These gracious appearings of the Lord to His disciples on the earth, carry with them very sweet and touching lessons for us. May we profit by their consideration.
Now, let us turn for a little to the history of the one to whom He appeared first. In the last chapter of Mark we read another, and rather different account of Mary Magdalene, from that given by John. “Now, when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not" (Mark 16:9-11). There you have very shortly told what were the facts with regard to Mary, and what was the effect of her testimony. She was not believed. Now there is something very solemn in that, if we bear in mind the message which the Lord gave her in John 20 Nothing could he more blessed than the message she carried. It is so solemn to feel it was not believed. And it is not believed to-day. There are very few believing souls to-day that have the faith of the message that Mary Magdalene carried at that time.
We may here inquire the reason why the Lord Jesus appeared to her first. I believe it was because of her devoted affection to Him, for nothing is more sweet to Christ than that. It may have been ignorant affection, but it was deep. She never forgot what and where she was when Jesus first met her. Her heart had been the abode of seven devils. Their expulsion became the opportunity for her to enshrine Jesus therein, and when He was crucified her love had lost its all. You know that her name has been connected with Magdalene Institutions, from the supposition that a profligate early life of sin had been connected with the “seven devils “which Jesus cast out. There is no hint whatever of this in the evangelists. I think the whole thing is groundless and gratuitous assumption. There is nothing in Scripture stated of her beyond this fact, that she was possessed of seven devils. I know that she has been confounded with the woman in Luke 7, who is stated to have been a sinner, and who washed the Lord's feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. We are not told who she was. But evidently she was not the Mary who anointed His head, as recorded in Matt. 26, Mark 14, and again in John 12. The house in which the woman wept over his feet, and anointed them too, in Luke 7, was that of Simon the Pharisee. Whereas we are told distinctly in John 12 that Mary of Bethany anointed the Lord in the house of Simon the leper.
Neither of these two women must be confounded with Mary Magdalene. Who, then, was Mary of Magdala? I conclude that she was a noble lady of means. In the eighth chapter of Luke you find what is very interesting regarding her. “And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance" (vers. 1-3). Jesus had ministered to their spiritual wants, and they ministered to His bodily wants. They were, in plain language, devoted and attached to Him, and followed Him, as His blessed feet took Him into every hamlet telling out God's glad tidings. What, then, marked Mary Magdalene was this, her deep-rooted and blessed attachment of heart to Christ. Cultivate this, beloved friends, for there is nothing can take its place. I believe the Lord cares more for that than anything else. You may tell me she was not intelligent. She was affectionate, which is far better. You may think that you are very intelligent. Possibly you are, but, after all, how little we all know. But I do not think that intelligence ranks very high with the Lord. It is not that I make light of it, but when there is affection there will be intelligence sooner or later, though the reverse is by no means assured. When we come to the twentieth chapter of John's Gospel, we shall find that the most intelligent person on earth was Mary of Magdala. And I do not think anybody would dare say she was not the most affectionate.
Why does the Lord Jesus single her out for His first appearing? It was her affection put her in the place where the Lord could reveal Himself to her, as He does. She had been fully possessed by satanic power, but Jesus had cast the seven devils out, and from that hour the sense of the glory of her Deliverer, and the recollection of what she owed to Him who had delivered her, bound that dear woman's heart to the Lord Jesus in a way that you and I might well emulate. God give us, every one, to have a little more of the love for Him personally, that marked this dear woman.
On the day of the Passover Mary had seen her tenderly loved Deliverer ruthlessly slain. She had stood by His cross, along with her friends, "who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him" (Mark 15:40, 41; John 19:25). Together they heard His last words, and then, having seen where He was laid (Mark 15:47), they returned to Jerusalem and "prepared spices and ointment" (Luke 23:55, 56), "that they might come and anoint him" (Mark 16:1). When the Sabbath was past, they went out, when it was yet dark, their only thought being that He was to be kept in death. Did Mary Magdalene go with the same thought? Most probably, and therein lay her ignorance. Had she not, as well as others, heard that He was to rise again? I could scarcely say that. What she felt was this, that the world was, to her, completely empty. But indeed there was something emptier than the world. What was that? Her heart, without Christ. There was where the void was, and it completely isolated her. Consequently, although some of the Gospels would lead you to think she was in the company of other women, I have no doubt, from the twentieth of John, that her affection carried her out to the Lord's sepulcher alone, early in the morning.
“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher “(John 20:1). From what is told us in Matt. 28:1, it is quite possible that the others may have gone out with her, on what we call the Saturday evening, and carried with them the spices they had prepared to embalm Him. But before the daylight of the first day of the week came in this woman is there alone by herself. She does not care for company. And when she thus comes, she finds an empty tomb, and the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. Scripture says, " Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter." Love made her heels fleet that day. And to whom does she run? Simon Peter. Why? You know there is a saying that, " A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind." She knew the void in her own heart, and she knew also what had taken place with regard to Peter, and it made her feel—There is one at least who will understand, if the rest do not. So she "cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved."
I have little doubt that was John. It is the way he speaks of himself all through his Gospel. And had the Lord a particular love for John? I do not doubt the ways of John pleased Him, but the point for you and me to learn is this, he speaks of himself not by his name, but as the one who knew that he was loved of the Lord. Can you tell me the disciple today whom Jesus loves? Ah, do not look round please. I do not think you will see him if you look round. I tell you what it is, if you have not got the sense in your heart of being" the disciple whom Jesus loves," you have not touched the kernel of Christianity yet, and you are out in the cold, instead of being in all the warmth of the affection of the blessed Lord. What John knew was this, “I am loved of the Lord." You and I should go about with this thought exhilarating our souls, “I am loved by Jesus." I think every Christian should be able to take up that place in the history of his soul. Anyway John did.
Well, Mary runs and says, “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him “(ver. 2). The effect is this: " Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher" (ver. 3). It is very striking the way the Spirit gives us all these details. “So they ran both together; and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher “(ver. 4). Now I. think that, if I had been asked which of these two was the most stalwart, I should have said Peter. I would have expected him to have been the fleeter of the two. Surely he would outrun John. No, he is outpaced this time. Do you know why? Peter carried with him an awful load that day. There is nothing that puts such a drag on the feet as a bad conscience. Peter was not happy, and if you are not happy, you are not going very fast, dear fellow-Christian. Are you rejoicing in the Lord's love? If not, you may depend upon it, your pace is not very rapid.
We are told that John outran Peter, " And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in " (ver. 5). You may say, Why did not John go in? He was a Jew, and he had doubtless a Jewish feeling, that, if he went in, he would defile himself. And so this spiritual man, John, for the moment stops. He had not yet learned that Christ having come, everything is taken out of type and shadow now. Old impressions fill his mind and hold him back. “Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher" (ver. 6). He goes in, heedless of any consequence. The remembrance of his ways and words in the high priest's palace, and his denial of his Lord, spurred him to enter. It led him to risk everything, and lose sight of everything. What availed his position as a Jew, if he had lost Christ, after having grieved Him, and wounded Him.
Impelled by the urgency of his own feelings, Peter enters the sepulcher, "And seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself" (ver. 7). There had been no tumult there. All was calm and quiet. Like one who has passed the night in peaceful slumber, risen in the morning and laid aside the clothes, here the Lord lays aside the death clothes. What is the lesson? He has done with death. He had set aside everything that relates to death, the fruit and wages of sin. The napkin folded and laid aside tells of the reign of death being over for ever. Resurrection glory is to replace death. These details have indeed a meaning for the heart. I see He has gone into death and annulled it. He is risen now. Resurrection power and resurrection joy are to flood the scene. Everything now is in resurrection for the Christian, for being in Christ he is on the other side of death. I do not say that Peter and John learnt this wondrous lesson then. Have you and I learnt it? Ah, brethren, it is easy speaking, but the question is, where are we in the history of our souls? Are our souls really linked with Christ where He now is? What they saw was the proof of His wondrous victory.
And now John goes in. “Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and believed “(ver. 8). Believed what? I do not think exactly that he believed in Christ's resurrection. He believed surely that the Lord was gone. The tale that Mary had brought of the Lord being gone he believed. "For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead" (ver. 9). Up to that moment the great and glorious truth that He must rise from the dead, which He had pressed on them again and again during His life-ministry, never seemed to have got into their souls. There is nothing we are slower to reach than resurrection ground. When He came down from the mount of transfiguration, He said to them, “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead" (Matt. 17:9). But spite of that, the great blessed truth, which is the backbone of the gospel, resurrection, they had not at that moment reached.
Hence, what we find is this, “Then the disciples went away again unto their own home" (ver. 10). And why to their own home? Because they had a home. They had spheres of interest, and to these spheres they go back. “But "—that is a wonderful little "but"—" But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping." Why did not she go home? I do not think I am wrong when I say she had not one. She may have had a house but not a home. Where Christ had been was really the home of her heart. That sepulcher had held Him whom she loved so deeply, and therefore a home she had not. The fact was this, her world was gone, everything was gone, because He was gone. And oh, what a blessing it would be for each of us, if Christ were all to our hearts. Take away Christ, and all was gone for Mary. Desolation and an empty heart were hers, but as for home she had none. The home of her heart was away. She had lost the One who ravished her heart, who had first delivered her from Satan's power, and then filled her with the knowledge of His own love and grace, and bound the affections of her heart round Himself, for after all, there is nothing like love, and love produces love. You cannot force it. It is reciprocal, and nothing will keep your mind so steady, and cause your heart to flow out with love to Him, as the enjoyment of His love to you.
And do you not think it was a joy to the heart of Jesus as He saw from the distance that weeping woman? You may depend upon it, the Lord noticed her that day with the deepest interest. Do you think He notices us to-day? Does He see where our hearts are? Is He not interested as to where the affections of our souls are travelling? Surely, for He is unchanged—" Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." He is the same to-day as He was that morning. There was a blessed sight for Him to behold that resurrection morn—one person in this world who could not do without Him. Yes, that is very blessed.
“And as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? “That is all the length, you notice, they can go. They see her sorrow. They notice her tears. And they are interested sufficiently to inquire why she weeps. She gives them the answer, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him" (vers. and 12). When she went to Peter and John, do you know what she said to them? “They have taken away the Lord," because He was also their Lord. But now when the angels ask why she weeps, what does she say? “They have taken away my Lord." How personal. How precious to the ear of Jesus to hear this—" My Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back “(ver. 13).
Suppose you and I saw two angels, what do you think we should do? Now, honestly own what you would do. Honestly, I think I should take a downright good look at them. And I should probably think I was a very favored person to see angels. I should not quite believe you, if you said you would not look at them. You do not know your own heart. Ah, but look at this woman. Angels had not the faintest attraction for Mary. She was not controlled by them, nor held by them. What does she do? She turns her back on them. Ah, beloved friends, what do we turn our backs on? I fear that something less interesting than an angel is sometimes apt to hold us. Is not that true? Look at Mary. “She turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus" (ver. 14). You may tell me she was blind. Well, sometimes love is blinded by its very tears. But anyway, though her love was blind, mark, friends, the love was there. She was evidently in deep distress since the object of her love was, as she thought dead, and now quite gone from her grasp. It was an agony of love.
And now we read, " Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? “You remember He had said somewhat similar words to two men before. The one was Andrew, and I am sure the other was John the evangelist He did not get this question in John 20, because he had a home and had departed to it. But he once heard this same voice saying, “What seek ye?" He and his companion replied then, " Master, where dwellest thou?” (John 1:38). That meant, Lord, let us know how to find your home. This day John missed that voice, but Mary heard it. Not “What seek ye?” but " Whom seekest thou? " is the Lord's touching query here to Mary. The point is, nothing can satisfy the renewed heart but the Person of Jesus, and the enjoyment of the love of Jesus. The Lord knew that, and drew near to her, fully prepared to fill to the full the empty heart that deeply and truly loved Him. And I believe we may know the same. Nothing really fills the heart but the enjoyment of His own love.
We are reaching the climax of this deeply touching scene, as Jesus inquires: “Woman! why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away “(ver. 15). Very striking is the way in which, in Scripture, you get the gardener brought in. In the opening book of Scripture— Genesis—you have the gardener. He was the first Adam. He was put in Eden to till that garden, but failed. It is a garden here again, and in this garden you have now a broken-hearted woman, who has lost her all, and that all, the Lord of Glory. She sees Him, but knows Him not. And now she says what to me is one of the most touching things that could possibly have fallen from her lips, and which must have affected the heart of the Lord very greatly. “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away" (ver. 15). She offers, in her deep affection, to do that which her womanly weakness would have made an impossibility, viz., take Him away. She does not name Him. She does not lisp the title of the Object she is looking for. Her world was “Him." So full was her heart of Him, that she thought everybody else must be thinking about Him too.
It has been often said, If I have a sick friend, and call to ask for him, I simply say, “How is he?” They know who I mean, because everybody in that house is thinking of the sick one. And so here. “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou halt laid him, and I will take him away." That is an absorbed heart. I have heard it said, she was culpably ignorant. Why do you not again and again tell me she was very affectionate? Are you as affectionate? I wish, indeed, that I were. Do you not think that reply of Mary's that resurrection morning was like a cup of cold water to the tender, but hitherto oft-times deeply wounded heart of Jesus? I trow it was so indeed.
The closing scenes of the Lord's earthly history are very beautiful from this point of view. Responsive affection is frequently seen to gladden His heart. In the early part of the Gospels He comes out like a magnet and attracts many sad and weary hearts to Himself. He satisfies and fills these hearts, and among them Mary Magdalene's. And now, when you come to the close of His career here, it is beautiful to notice how the Father works to draw out divine affections from these same hearts towards His blessed Son. Among others, God allows Mary to come and fill a cup, that which would give joy to His heart. Notice the action, just a week before, of Mary of Bethany. How she refreshed His heart as she broke her box of ointment over Him. And do you not think the testimony of the dying thief on the cross was like a cup of cold water to the blessed Lord? Again, Nicodemus coming out boldly and owning Him after He was dead was suited and right. And was it not timely and divinely perfect that there should be one to meet Him, that resurrection morning, whose attitude said, “You are everything to me, and I cannot do without You."
I do not know whether you or I ever spoke to Him in this way. And if Mary did not put this sentiment into words, I know what the Lord took out of her words. What but this?—" That heart finds everything in Me, and cannot do without Me." Do you think He talks that way about you and me? Ah, we may well ask ourselves. Do you think he would thus speak to us, " Whom seekest thou?” Suppose He got upon our track to-day and just asked us: "What are you seeking? Is it Myself? or is it something here?" What would our answer be? We are often so taken up with the things of this life, with what concerns our home and business. It was not so with her. Her Lord absorbed her heart and controlled her. What a joy to the heart of Jesus!
It is at this moment that the Lord reveals Himself to her by one word. She cannot do without Him, and she shall not for a single second more. “Mary " falls upon her ear. That is all. “Jesus saith unto her, Mary." He had said before, " And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out; and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice" (John 10:3, 4). Do you and I understand what it is to be thus called of the Lord by name? And do we answer Him just as she did that day? Oh! what a revelation to her soul. “She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni: which is to say, Master “(ver. 16). Why does the Holy Ghost tell us she turned herself? We saw just now that when she saw angels she turned her back on them. Now she sees a man, and she turns her back on him. It was Christ she was looking for, but she had not at that moment found Him. But all is revealed to her in one word, “Mary." She had heard that blessed voice before, in the day when He delivered her from the sevenfold power of the devil, and in a moment she turns herself. The truth is out. He is there. She has found the One whom her heart desired above all things.
I do not doubt, in the impulse of her affection, that Mary was just about to do what her Galilean friends did afterwards—touch the Lord. She is checked by the word, “Touch me not." And why may she not touch Him? He tells her," For I am not yet ascended to my Father." She was going to take up relationship with Christ on the old ground. That would not do. She was henceforth to know Him in a new place altogether. Where do we know Him? At God's right hand. We know not Christ after the flesh, but as the risen, ascended, and glorified Man. " Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God " (ver. 17). Mary here had the most wonderful message given her that ever was committed to human lips down here to carry to others.
You might ask, Why did the Lord refuse Mary's touch, and yet let the Galilean women touch Him? I will take that up and fully answer that question at another time, God willing, only saying now that an earthly people will yet-know and have Christ in their midst as the living Messiah. But Mary prefigures the heavenly saints, and illustrates what is the truth for us. She was only to know Christ as we know Him, i.e., as gone on high. I think when He said, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father," a thrill of disappointment would go through her heart, which meant: “Am I to lose Thee again, Lord? I lost Thee, and my heart was broken, and now I have found Thee." His reply seems to say this: “No, Mary, you knew Me here, and you lost Me. Now I am going back to a spot where you can always find Me and never again lose Me."
There is immense importance in His words, “Go to my brethren." He could, on resurrection ground, now own all who believed in Himself as His brethren. His death had cleared away everything that lay between them and God, and He could now take up “His own “as being His brethren. He was here the true corn of wheat. He had said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). And here was the true unique Corn of Wheat alive from the dead, and He has His brethren in association with Himself. Hence He instructs Mary, “And say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."
If you will read the Gospel of John carefully, you will find that up to chapter 12 the Lord almost invariably says, " my Father," though sometimes it is " the Father." From chapter 13. and onwards He usually speaks of " the Father." That would raise the question, whose Father is He? If He be the Father, of whom is He the Father? In reality the day of the Holy Ghost is anticipated, as He speaks of God as being the Father. But now, redemption being accomplished, death annulled, and Jesus in resurrection, God is revealed and made known to us as our Father. He, as it were, says to Mary: “You thought you had lost Me. No, no, you have got Me, and you go and tell My brethren this. I had a place up there that was always peculiar to Myself. I was the delight and the joy of My Father's heart, but I was alone. I have come down from that scene of life and joy, and gone into death for My own, and settled every question. I have cleared the whole scene, and now I am going back, but not alone. On the ground of the work I have accomplished, I am going to take My brethren with Me. I will now share all with them. Go tell My brethren that My Father is their Father, and My God their God." This was the glorious message Mary's love to Him had secured for her-a message unique in its nature and import.
Now, my friends, do you believe that message? Had Jesus not already said, “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it "? (John 17:26). He had. The same resurrection music is found in one of the Psalms: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren” (Psa. 22:22). The sorrow of death over, Jesus hastens to declare the Father's name to His brethren. Note well that we have not touched Church ground here yet; but you have now the declaration of the Father, and that leads to it. And remember, beloved, that this is all individual. You will never know the joy of what it is to be an integral part of the assembly unless you get the sense, His Father is your Father, and His God your God. As a believer in Him, and having received the Holy Ghost, I am entitled to know that I am on the same identical ground before God as that risen, triumphant, blessed Man. In plain language, Christ's place is our place, and Christ's relationship our relationship. God's object, in Christianity, is to bring us into complete association with Christ. Absolute identity with Christ, where He now is, as risen from the dead and glorified, is our portion through infinite grace.
He was once absolutely identified with us where we were in death. Once He was the solitary Corn of Wheat, which, except it fall into the ground and die, abideth alone. But in order to bring forth much fruit, He has died, and now there is a wonderful crop. Around that risen Centre, see the untold numbers of the grains of wheat. They are His brethren. The feeblest, simplest believer in Jesus has now the same place before God as that glorified Man at God's right hand. For mark, we must have either Christ's place, or no place. This is just what we read elsewhere: " For both he that sanctifieth (Christ), and they who are sanctified (all who are Christ's), are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren; saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto thee" (Heb. 2:11, 12). Humanity is now glorified at God's right hand, and the place Christ has now taken there in resurrection, is the place He has secured for you and me. That place of holy joy and blessedness in the Father's love and presence He shares with all “His own."
Wondrous indeed was the favor conferred on Mary Magdalene to carry such news to the disciples. Love to the Lord Jesus personally secured her this immense boon, and we can well conceive the joy that filled her heart, when, in obedience to His behest, " Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her" (ver. 18).
To this simple affectionate woman is granted the immense favor of carrying this message to those who were the Lord's brethren, and eventually form the nucleus of His Church. Why had she this honor? Because she was devoted to Him. Among all the appearings of the Lord in resurrection to those who loved Him, be sure of this, that Mary's was not the heart least devoted to the Lord. Further, among the thousands of Marys who will be found in glory, a peculiar place will this Mary have, as the one who gratified the heart of the Lord that resurrection morning as none other did, and then became His messenger of, without exception, the most wonderful communication that mortal lips could utter. What could be more wonderful than for a sinner, delivered from Satan's power, and redeemed by grace, to learn that she was absolutely identified with that blessed One, who came down alone, and then went back to heaven and took a company with Him, and be entrusted with the exposition of the scripture, " Behold I and the children which God hath given me" (Heb. 2:13).
Well, so much for devotedness. And now why do not we more often carry sweet messages to comfort souls? I think it is that we are not devoted enough, we are not near enough the Lord to get from Him the word for souls round about us. May we all be more devoted, and may the Lord give us to know more and more what it is to be so near to Him, that we may be suited vessels whom He can use to carry sweet tidings of grace to others. You cannot tell me, after what we have been considering, that Mary of Magdala had no intelligence. Tell me any one more intelligent. John was not in it, and neither was Peter. The only one at the moment who was really intelligent was Mary, and her love undoubtedly led her up to the intelligence. God make you and me more like Mary of Magdala, for His name's sake.
Address 2: Mary's Friends and Their Message.
(MATTHEW 27:57-66; 28:1-20.) MAT 27:57-66; 28:1-20
I HAVE no doubt that the second company of individuals who saw the Lord in resurrection were the women who are named in this twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew. We saw last week that Mary is a type, if you will, of the heavenly saint. That is the saint who knows Christ where He now is. He had said to her, you remember, " Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father: and to my God, and your God." And she went and told the brethren the truth of the present moment, i.e., that our position, our portion, and our relationship to God are identical with that which the blessed Lord now occupies. We are in union with Him and in association with Him where He now is, in the Father's presence, the Father's house on high. In fact it is heavenly ground. Whether we have touched it or enjoyed it, is another question altogether.
Now you would notice as I read the twenty-eighth of Matthew just now, that when the Lord met this company of women, and said, "All hail," that "they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him " (ver. 9). Now, why should He say to one woman, "Touch me not," and permit another company to touch Him and hold Him by the feet, while they worship Him? Well, beloved friends, I think the reason is very simple. Mary was to introduce the heavenly side of the truth, and is herself a figure of the heavenly company, who by faith know the Lord where He now is in heaven. Such is the blessed privilege which belongs to you and me now, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the heavenly side of Christ's reign in the hearts of men is not everything. He is coming back again to head up all things by-and-by in heaven and on earth.
Our portion is heavenly, but there will yet be an earthly company and earthly blessing, for the Old Testament Scriptures speak largely of promises and blessings for earth and an earthly people. I grant you that everything is gone into ruin and failure on the earth for the time being, and Satan's power is only too manifest, but, thank God, the earth will yet own the sway and delight in the presence of Jesus; and there will be a redeemed and renewed Israel on earth, who will have Him in their midst as their King, and who will own Him and delight in Him, just as those women do here.
Old Testament Scripture is full of the fact that the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. But then His glory cannot fill the earth till He Himself takes possession of the earth, nor until He puts the earth right. These "times of the restitution of all things," as Peter calls them (Acts 3:21), will be connected with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ upon earth by-and-by. His feet will yet stand on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4), and there will be an earthly people delighted to welcome Him.
Now I make these remarks just at the beginning, because they will help us to understand the way in which this truth comes out in the last chapter of Matthew's Gospel. What we have in the closing chapter of Matthew is exactly what I should expect. You know that Jesus had come as the King of the Jews, and Messiah; but He had been refused the throne; He had been ignominiously rejected. Nothing therefore could be more suitable or beautiful than to see the way Matthew's Gospel closes. It presents the King in the midst of a company upon earth who have Him and hold Him, who know Him, and worship Him. If we had only got the Gospel of Matthew, we should suppose the Lord to be upon earth just now, because there is no account of His ascension in Matthew.
It is beautiful to see the way in which Matthew's Gospel closes, with the blessed Lord having round Him upon earth those that delight in Him. The instruction that is connected with this fact is by no means unimportant. I daresay you know, that there are many who have thought the Gospel of Matthew incomplete, just because you have no account of the ascension of the Lord therein. One noted Anglican divine has gone so far as to say that he believed there would yet be found a manuscript of this Gospel containing an account of the Lord passing up to heaven. Now to have the ascension in Matthew's Gospel would be to spoil it entirely, and I trust I shall be able to show to you the reason for that statement. Among my hearers I know that there are many young Christians, and if they get the outline of this Gospel, they will see why we have not the ascension here, and how this falls in with what has gone before.
Now just go back and see how we have the Lord Jesus presented in this Gospel. The four Gospels present the Lord Jesus in four different aspects. Matthew presents Him as the King of the Jews, the Messiah, but as the rejected King. Mark gives Him as the Servant. Luke delineates Him as the Son of man. John presents Him as the Son of God.
Matthew opens most beautifully with the genealogy of the King, because if it be a question of a throne and kingdom, the One who claims that throne and that kingdom must give the most incontestable evidence as to His right to it. Now that is just the way in which the Gospel opens. The genealogy of the Lord Jesus furnishes the most irrefragable proof of His claim to the throne of David.
Just turn back to the first chapter for a moment. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham" (ver. 1). And then we read, "And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias " (ver. 6). So you have there, in the middle of the genealogy, what I call the keynote of the Gospel struck. It is the genealogy of the King. I do not go into the detail of it, but there you have the Lord's title to the throne of David, proved in the most unmistakable way.
I must just point out in passing the wonderful way in which the grace of God comes out, dear friends, in this genealogy. There are here introduced the names of four women, that any one but God would have kept out of the genealogy. Who, of set purpose, in preparing a genealogical tree to prove a title, would have brought in the story of Rahab the harlot, or Bathsheba, or Ruth, or Tamar? Ah, none but God. You see God wrote this Book and not man. Man would have carefully excluded the names of Tamar, and Rahab, Bathsheba, and Ruth. Not that Ruth's name was foul, yet she was a Moabitess, and as such forbidden to enter the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation for ever (Deut. 23:3), but the other three had the foulest tarnish on their names that a woman could have. Man would have carefully omitted all reference to such palpable blots on his family scutcheon. Not so God. When He is about to narrate the genealogy of His Son, become a man to bless man, God brings them in. That is to say, in these four women you have the most beautiful illustration of how the grace of God can rise above the sin of man, and even permit that which is the outcome of man's weakness and sin to be the very occasion for the introduction into this scene of His own blessed Son, who was to be the Savior of the world, as well as the King of the Jews.
Chapter 2 gives you the birth of the King, and the first question in the New Testament, as the Magi say, " Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" (ver. 2). Thereafter comes His flight into Egypt, that Scripture might be fulfilled (ver. 13), as regards that, and also His later dwelling in Nazareth (ver. 23).
Chapter 3 introduces John the Baptist, proclaiming the fact that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. In plain language he announces the advent of the King, and then he baptizes the One who is the King. The King comes upon the scene, not in display, might, and glory, but lowly, and taking His place among the remnant of Israel, the godly. Then chapter 4 gives you the story of the temptation in the wilderness. Looked at from the Lord's side it is the lovely display of His moral beauties as a dependent man, but, I think, viewed from another point, it is to bring to light the actual deposition of the usurper. It is Satan beaten. The true King morally defeats and overturns the one who, so to speak, filled the throne of the world. And that is Satan.
When you come to chapters 5, 6, and 7 you find one continuous subject. All the instructions there found may not have been spoken by the blessed Lord at one moment, but they are taken up by the Spirit of God, put together consecutively, and you have before you there what is often called "the sermon on the mount." Those chapters give you in detail the laws of the kingdom, the principles that are to rule the kingdom which is to be introduced by the blessed One who comes as the King. Only notice, He never says He is the King. It is most beautiful to see that there is only one instance in the whole of the pathway of the Lord Jesus, in which He says He is the King (see Matt. 25:34, 40). When describing the future judgment which will mark His kingdom, He twice calls Himself the King. But He never claimed kingship. I fancy that had it been you or I we should have claimed our rights. That was not Christ's way. He could not take the kingdom in its then condition of sin and rebellion. He will get it by-and-by, according to God, and on the ground of redemption.
In chapters 8 and 9 you will find grouped together all the powers which mark the introduction of the kingdom of Messiah, as foretold in Isaiah 35, which you should study. You have the miracles of the Lord condensed and brought together. There are twelve miracles in these two chapters, and they are brought together, I have no doubt, to form a dispensational picture, and show in the most incontestable way that He, who was the Messiah that should come, was here. And He was here doing that which Jehovah alone could do. That is the point of chapters 8 and 9.
Then, when you come to chapter 10, you will find the Lord calls His twelve disciples, whom He names apostles, and bids them go out and preach the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is announced by His authority, and the apostles are sent out to preach it. Now you would have thought that, this being so, the King would have been accepted, and the kingdom would have been set up. But, alas! what you find is this, in chapter 11, John the Baptist doubts Him, and the Pharisees and everybody disbelieve Him. In plain language His testimony is not received. When you come to chapter 12 the spirit of opposition to Him is deeper, and though" the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of David?“ the religious leaders of the moment—the harasses— reply," This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils " (vers. 23, 24). His mighty power to heal and bless they ascribe to Satan, and not to the power of the Holy Ghost. In plain language they absolutely refuse Christ altogether, and as a consequence, in the close of chapter 12. He refuses to own the nation as God's people any more. The link is broken, and the Jews are cast off for the time being. Every thought of setting up the kingdom on earth is abandoned, for if the King be rejected, how can the kingdom be established?
Coming to chapter 13, you there get the similitude of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom is now in mystery, and you get the truth relating to the Church of God-the new work of Christ-unfolded. But, as far as the kingdom in manifestation on earth is concerned, it is abandoned. The next thing is this, the leaders of the nation begin to plot for Messiah's death. Judas becomes the tool in Satan's hands to deliver Him to His enemies, and the end is soon reached. They nail Him to the cross, and, above His head, the inscription, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" (27:37). That was His crime nailed up over His head. As you know, when the Romans condemned a man to death, they always placed the crime for which he was to die over his head. Now what was His crime? That He was what He said He was. And what was He? He was Jesus of Nazareth, Jehovah the Savior, and King of the Jews. Then the chief priests come and say to Pilate, “Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King of the Jews" (John 19:21). “Pilate answered and said, What I have written I have written" (ver. 22). He had the sense that what he had written was true. Thus the King died, crucified by His own subjects, and the Scripture was fulfilled, “And after the three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and have nothing” (Dan. 9:26). It is very interesting to see the way, particularly in Matthew, in which God records the facts concerning the death of the Lord Jesus, as also His burial, and His resurrection.
The careful reader of Scripture cannot but be struck with the great number of times the expression “That the Scriptures might be fulfilled," occurs in Matthew's Gospel, far more frequently than in any of the other Gospels. Not infrequently you get, “As it is written," in each Gospel, but Matthew goes further, and twelve times says,” That the Scriptures might be fulfilled" (see 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23; 8:17, 12:17; 13:35, 21:4; 26:54; 28:9, 35).
Now let us notice what occurred after the Lord was dead." When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: he went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed" (vers. 57-60). You must understand of course that a Jewish tomb was not like our graves, a hole dug in the earth. In this instance Scripture is careful to tell us it was hewn out in the rock, and it was a new tomb. And why a new tomb? Because Christ must ever have the first of everything. He will not take the second ride on an ass (Mark 11:2), the second place in a tomb (Matt. 27:60; John 19:41), or the second place in your heart or mine.
The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah had predicted what you have here. Just go back and look at it. “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death," or more truly, “And his grave was appointed with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death." What is the meaning of that? The Jews had designed undoubtedly to put the blessed holy body of the Son of God, along with both the bodies of the criminals, who died by His side, into the common pit. Satan's malice not only suggested that He should be betrayed by a familiar friend, but that after He was dead His body should be cast into the common pit. God's answer to this insult to His Son was already recorded. “His grave was appointed with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death." This is beautiful, and the reason yet more so. “Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" (ver. 9). In that terrible hour when everything seemed over, and when His own had all lost hope, and Satan thought he had then everything in his hand, God remembered that " he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth," and the rich man of Arimathæa, Joseph, stepped in and secured His body.
What Jesus had been in all His pathway suited God absolutely, and here we see that the very care of God for His body in death was connected with the beauty of His life. Do not let us forget it. It was not loosely penned by the Spirit of God that, "with the rich man was his tomb, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" (ver. 9). I do not think that could be said of anybody else. Christ was absolutely transparent in everything, and therefore, the rich man turns up. That is to say, the death of Christ produced what His life had never produced. Joseph had previously been “a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews "; but now you notice he comes boldly out, claims, gets, and then buries the body of Jesus in his own new tomb.
Now we read in another Gospel, “Wherein was never man yet laid" (John 19:41). Why is God so careful to say that? The answer to that question is found in the Old Testament, and its perusal will help you to observe how carefully God guards everything connected with the person of His blessed Son. Go back to the Second Book of Kings, where we read: “And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men: and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet " (2 Kings 13:20, 21). I think it is easy to see now why it was said to be a new tomb "wherein was never man yet laid." If the Spirit of God had not been careful to record this, Satan and the Jews would soon have had the story in circulation that Jesus was risen from the dead, but that was nothing new. That was what happened in Old Testament times. He had been put into a tomb where the bones of some prophet lay, and consequently He had revived again. God foresaw that lie, and has taken great care to tell us it was a new tomb.
And there they laid Jesus, “And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulcher “(Matt. 27:61). That took place on what we call the Friday afternoon. “Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can" (vers. 62-65). I have no doubt, from the way in which Pilate speaks, that he had a deep sense that the Lord would arise from the dead. Could any power keep that blessed One in the grave? Impossible. And I think Pilate knew it in the bottom of his heart. “So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch" (ver. 66). It is a most awful thing, when you come to think of it, that the religious world did its very best to keep Christ out of the scene. Fancy sealing in a dead Man, and then setting a lot of soldiers with drawn swords round Him. The fact is this, they issued the finest testimony possible that He had risen, when the time came (28:11). Satan always defeats himself.
Now we read, " In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher " (chap. 28:1). You must bear in mind that the Jewish day began at six o'clock in the evening, so the Sabbath had gone by, and the first day of the week begun when those women at eventide came out. Elsewhere we are told that they "rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). They obeyed the law. They had prepared spices, “that they might come and anoint him “on the Friday evening, and then rested on the Saturday. That was the Sabbath. The Lord's Day has nothing at all to do with the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the last day of the week. There is no such thing as the Christian Sabbath, although men often so speak. There is the Lord's Day. The first of the week is the day that belongs to the Lord. And I claim a greater sanctity for the Lord's Day than the Jew does for the Sabbath. You and I give the Lord the first day of the week.
The point here is, that on the Sabbath Day they were obedient, and rested. Now apparently they go out in the twilight, free from legal restrictions, for really the first day of the week had begun. Out go these two in the gloaming to see the sepulcher. What took place then? We are not told. Did they spend the night there? I do not know, for we are not told.
But what I want to show you is this, that you must not read into Matt. 28:1, 2, what is not there, and come to the false conclusion that they were present when the Lord rose, and present when the angel rolled away the stone. That cannot be so; because, if you will turn to Mark 16, which gives us another account, you read this, " And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him" (ver. 1).
They evidently thought of Him only as dead. “And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun" (ver. 2). Here Mark gives us a little bit of light. They were there at the rising of the sun. They must then have been there twice. I do not doubt it. Whether they went back overnight is not the question. They came out at the rising of the sun, but then, ere they got there, and ere the sun was risen, the blessed Lord had risen. “And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great" (vers. 3, 4).
The same story is given to us by the evangelist Luke. " Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them" (Luke 24:1). When they get there, an angel meets them, and having heard his communication, we are told they go back. I have little doubt that it was Mary's lingering behind her friends, which became the occasion for her to see the Lord as we considered last week. Evidently her female companions were going towards Jerusalem when the Lord met them, as recorded in Matt. 28:9. I have said, and I think you will find it is correct, that verses and 2 of that chapter are not immediately consecutive in point of time. There is an interval of some hours between them. Verse 1 stands by itself.
The women went out in the evening to see the sepulcher, and I conclude, and am pretty sure I am right from other scriptures, that they were not there, because they had gone back to the city before verse 2 was enacted. Read it: “And, behold, there had been a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow" (vers. 2 and 3). Verses 2, 3, and 4 are brought in to show what had taken place. There was an earthquake when the Lord died, and there was an earthquake when He rose. Man, the creature, was insensible to the wonderful work of Calvary. The earth, created by the Son of God, shook to its very center when He, who had been its Creator, died, and thereafter was buried, completely ending the history and life-page of the first man. And then, when He arose, again to its very center it was shaken. What had happened? The most wonderful thing that ever took place, because infinitely greater in its issue than creation, was the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God.
But you may tell me that creation was a wonderful thing. I know it. Something far more wonderful was the death of Him who was the Creator, and all that was effected by that atoning death, when He bare sins, met all the claims of God, glorified God in death, and then passed into the tomb. On this resurrection morning He rises out of death, and leaves every trace of it behind forever. Scripture says, " Christ was raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father" (Rom. 6:4); and again, that He "was quickened by the Spirit " (1 Peter 3:18); and again it says He raised Himself, for it is written, " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19), for " I lay down my life that I might take it again " (John 10:17). But the point is this, He rose, and I have no manner of doubt that He rose before the stone was rolled away.
It was not rolled away to let the Lord Jesus out of the tomb, but to let you and me look in and see the wonderful proofs of that which had taken place. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the evidence that death was annulled, the power of Satan broken, God perfectly glorified about sin, and that sin for ever put away. He defeated Satan morally in the wilderness first, then came out and spoiled his palace, but now He goes right down into the very center of his kingdom, meets him in the citadel of his strength death— and overcomes him absolutely. By death He destroys death, and him who had the power thereof (Heb. 2:14.). And then He rises from the dead, the mighty Victor, and hastens to bring others into all the blessed fruits of His glorious victory.
Now you will find how this works out in this chapter. As has been often said, there is no singing here. Why? The reason is very simple. Redemption was not for angels. It was for sinners like you and me. Ah, friends, we have good title to sing. And we have ground for singing too. And if we do not sing, I want to know why? I tell you what it is, whenever a saint is downright happy he always sings. “Is any merry? let him sing " (James 5:13). Joy in the Holy Ghost is that which marks the soul now that has the sense of what it is to be quickened with Christ and associated with Him where He is now before God, alive from the dead.
And now the angel addresses the women, who again appear upon the scene, and says, “Fear not ye." The first words you get from the lips of the Lord in resurrection, that we are told of, were, "Woman, why weepest thou?" The first word He said to the company of His disciples was, “Peace unto you." But I think the first testimony of the angel here is very beautiful. “Fear not ye." Now what is the great thought in resurrection? The dispelling of everything that would bring in fear. Fear must go, for “fear hath torment” (1 John 4:18). Have you any fear? You do not know Christ in resurrection. We find an angel saying, first to the women, “Fear not," but what does Jesus say to them when He meets them? “All hail." An angelic note sweetly falls upon their ears to begin with, but how beautifully is it confirmed by the Lord Himself. Beloved friend, if you have learnt the value of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, you are brought into an atmosphere where fear does not exist. People think it is almost right to fear, and they are afraid of this, that, and the other ill. Ah, my friend, I wish you would listen to the opening testimony in resurrection—" Fear not."
We come now into an atmosphere where everything is redolent of Christ and His victory, hence the believer in Him is to have power and victory. On the cross He was the Victim. And what is He now? He is the Victor. Get these two things in your soul. When I see Him dying, He is the Victim. When I see Him risen, He is the Victor. All power is in His hand. What room is there for fear and doubt? "Perfect love casteth out fear" (1 John 4:11). Oh, beloved friends, it is a wonderful reality this. It is like letting in light where darkness has reigned. If only believers got in their souls the sense of what it is to be in association with Christ in resurrection, their experience would be wonderful. He brings us into a new place and sphere altogether. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new " (2 Cor. 5:17). I do not say they touched it all that day. If you, fellow-believer, have not touched it, you have missed God's mind for you. Thank God, I can say I have touched enough to make my heart rejoice. Year in and year out, heaven is commenced already for the heart that is in the joy of resurrection, and in association with Christ.
And now notice what the angel says to these women, “For I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified” (ver. 5). It is a fine thing for those who look on to say, “We know ye seek Jesus." What do you think the world says about you and me behind our backs? Do you seek Jesus? It is a fine thing that. What you want is Jesus. You are all right if you are seeking Jesus. The angel then adds, " He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (ver. 6). I suppose the angel took them by the hand and led them to the door of the sepulcher. They are to face not death but an empty tomb, the witness of resurrection. How people shrink from this! I have seen saint after saint, who when death came in view, was quite upset. Why? Because they have not been in this chapter, and really heard the words, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay." And what is to be seen? Death annulled. That is the point. A risen Christ is to fill the horizon of our souls with peace.
And now the angel says, "Go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead." If you have this blessed knowledge yourself, go and tell somebody else. Tell it to others. Further, " And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you" (ver. 7). Why Galilee? Ah, He was “Jesus of Nazareth," that despised place down in Galilee. He was not to be seen in Jerusalem, the center of the world's system religiously. He was absolutely outside all that. And so it is to-day. If you are going to have the joy of Christ, you will have to take an outside place.
“Inside the veil" (Heb. 10:20) and "outside the camp" (Heb. 13:13) go together. They are like the two blades of a pair of scissors. They must be pinned together; one is no use without the other. You cannot get on in Jerusalem, so to speak; if you really want Christ, you will have to go where He is to be found. And where is that? In Galilee, then despised of Israel, and the symbol now of our outside place as followers of Christ.
Another evangelist tells us that the angel says, "Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee" (Mark 16:7). I think it very instructive to see that the very servant—John whose surname was Mark—who broke down in his own service, and for a while turned back from the Lord's work (see Acts 13:13), should be used of God to record the sentence, " Go, tell his disciples and Peter," a message of deep comfort to another servant who had also broken down. Unless we have ourselves been broken down, we are not really able to help those who are broken down. There is wonderful grace in the words, “Go, tell his disciples and Peter." His Lord had not forgotten him. He had not cast him off, and, blessed be His name, He does not drop us because we have been feeble and failing.
"And they departed from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word" (ver. 8). There is a wonderful mingling of feelings there, “Fear and great joy." There was fear on the one hand, and great joy on the other. "And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail." Here is the second interview. What is the meaning of" All hail "? I could not put it into words exactly; but for these lovers of Christ, whose hearts had been broken with the thought they had lost their blessed Lord, all of a sudden to hear His gracious voice thus saluting them, was joy indeed. To them surely it was “Welcome." That is the idea. It said in effect to them: Every difficulty is over: the darkness has gone by, all is bright and clear. “And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him" (ver. 9).
Why does He not bid them not touch Him? Because He is here the risen King alive from the dead, standing on earth in the midst of an earthly people who love Him, and worship Him. It is a miniature picture of His coming earthly kingdom. And if it be no joy to your hearts, it is to mine, that the Lord Jesus will yet stand on earth, that His head shall be crowned, and that He will be surrounded by a people who will own Him, delight in Him, and worship Him. The Psalmist says, “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion" (Psa. 65:1). That is true, because Zion's voice is silent now. But it is going to break forth in praise by-and-by.
In the meantime what has happened? The Holy Ghost has come down, and while the Jew has been cast off, the Church is brought in, and she takes Israel's place, but a much better place than Israel ever had. And we worship Jesus now. The blessing of the Church is of a double character. Christ is the Object of the worship of our souls now, and we have also the privilege of testimony for Him, as we pass through this scene, while awaiting His coming again.
Having accepted their homage, the Lord said to those who held Him by the feet, " Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me" (ver. 10). He confirms to them the word the angel had given to them before, that Galilee was to be the meeting place. This all beautifully falls in with the scope of the Gospel. It is an earthly company here who are to have the King in their midst, and they go down and meet Him. To His own, so assembled, He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (ver. 18). Let us never forget that.
Well, beloved friends, their Jesus is the blessed One that you and I know through infinite grace, not upon earth now, for He has gone on high, is there crowned with glory and honor, and we delight in the thought of the place where the Lord is now. If Mary Magdalene gives you, in figure, the heavenly portion of the saints now, it is well to see that these Galilean women, the second to whom Jesus showed Himself, bring out the earthly side of His kingdom. The heavenly portion is the first, and then comes the earthly. The order is just what we have in the Old Testament. Isaac's seed was to be as the stars of heaven, and Jacob's as the sand of the sea. That is the heavenly and the earthly. And Christ is the center of both. One loves to think that an earthly people will yet receive, believe, and love Him, and He will say, “All hail," in a day to come, to the repentant remnant of the nation that rejected Him when He came as Messiah the first time.
Address 3: the Journey to Emmaus
(LUKE 24:13-35.) LUK 24:13-35
WE have looked on two previous evenings, beloved friends, at the first two appearings to His own of the Lord in resurrection. He appeared to Mary Magdalene first, we are told, and then secondly to her Galilean friends. The scripture before us to-night gives us the three other manifestations of the Lord on the day on which He rose. I have no doubt that they teach a very special truth regarding resurrection, as presented by the evangelist Luke. If it has not already struck you, you may read this twenty-fourth of Luke with fresh interest, bearing in mind the fact that, if you had only got Luke's Gospel, you would think the Lord was only one day on earth after He was risen, for Luke's record commences and concludes with facts that would all appear to have transpired in the one day.
The day begins with the women seeing Him, continues with the two going to Emmaus, and having His blessed company for at least, I should say, a couple of hours; then comes out the truth that He has already been seen by Peter; and lastly, He is found in the midst of His own, makes Himself known to them, eats in their presence, teaches them, gives them a commission, leads them out to Bethany, and then passes up to heaven. Had we only Matthew's Gospel, which does not give an account of His ascension, we should think the Lord was still on earth, and, if we had no other Gospel but Luke's, we should think His sojourn here was just one day. And, in a certain sense, it is exactly that. It is essentially the resurrection day, with all the blessing, liberty, joy, and apprehension of God's mind and love that characterize it. It is a great thing for a Christian to get the sense “I am living in the resurrection day."
There is a great deal of instruction connected with the appearing of the Lord to the disciples in the upper room, which I shall touch on another night, as recorded by the evangelist John. But there are beautiful points, which should be carefully noted in this interview which Luke alone presents. His Gospel especially depicts the Lord in what I may call the human side of His character. And we must not forget that He is still a real, living, tender-hearted Man, and as much so, the moment I am speaking to you, as He was in the days of His flesh down here. Many a saint has not so got hold of Him, and that accounts for their distress in sorrow, and their dejection and depression in difficulties as they go through this scene. They have not learned that the risen and glorified Jesus is the same Jesus that passed along through this scene full of grace and tender sympathy.
The full exhibition of all that God is, in His nature and being, was made known in Christ, but, apart from that, He was a real, true, tender-hearted, gracious, holy, yea, a perfect Man, with all the exquisite sensibilities that belong to man, either Godward or manward as the case may be. And if perfect in His life when, in the days of His flesh, He trod this sorrow stricken scene, He is unchanged in resurrection, proof of which is before you in the lovely way in which Luke presents Him when, alive from the dead, He seeks out and cheers His own in their varied states, through the hours of what rolls before us as one day.
Now comes the question, Who saw the Lord on the third occasion this day? I could not dogmatize, because Scripture does not speak, but I infer that Peter was the one who saw the Lord after the women of Galilee. You may rightly ask me my reason for so thinking. Well, when the two who went to Emmaus come back to Jerusalem, and get into the upper room, they immediately hear: “The Lord is risen indeed, and bath appeared to Simon" (ver. 34). That was the greeting they got as they entered the door; and the interview evidently had taken place previously. I will tell you my reason for so thinking. If the Lord has His eye, in this meeting to-night, more upon one than another, it is upon the unhappy heart that has dishonored Him, disgraced His name, distressed the brethren, played into the hands of the enemy, and more than that, wrought for its own misery, after the fashion Peter had wrought. I think if the Lord has His eye especially on anybody, it is upon the backslider? And was Peter a backslider? That is not the point. Are you a backslider? Ah, brethren, backsliding is an awful thing. But what is so precious to note here is the deep interest of Christ in desiring to recover and put right a heart that has in any measure got wrong. You may not have gone the length of oaths and curses, but, like Peter, my friend, if you knew Jesus better in days gone by than you do now, if His company, His love, were then more the paramount necessity of your life, than at the present moment, it is because the things of the world and the flesh have come in to hinder and spoil you. He knows very well that your heart is not happy, nor at rest; and I tell you what He would like to do. He would like to recover and make you happier than ever. If He would not, I do not know Him. But that is the Christ I know.
I shall not touch on Peter's restoration to-night, because it will come in its own place more fitly when we look at his public restoration, which was on the seventh occasion the Lord was seen. What Luke here records is his private restoration to his Lord. But there was a public restoration also to be effected, and that we are permitted to see by the Sea of Galilee, as recorded in John 21. I do not doubt that Peter got then and there the sense of absolute restoration in every sense of the word.
And now let us go back to the two going to Emmaus. I do not know a more blessed journey than the one with Jesus to Emmaus. I daresay some of you very intelligent people will tell me they were going quite the wrong way. Well, I will not deny it. But what charms my heart is this, that Christ is at their side to put them right. I am not so sure that they were very wrong, for I have little doubt they lived there. I have the deep conviction they were man and wife. You may say they had left Jerusalem, which should have been their centre. I know what you mean, but when Christ filled their hearts to the full, the eight mile walk back seemed nothing to them. You will see presently they got to a point when they could tell Him that the day was too far spent for Him to go farther, but, when He filled their hearts to overflowing, it was not too late for them to go back the eight miles to tell others the sweet news they possessed. Like bees going home from a good day's gathering, they are found in the hive sharing with the others the wonderful spoil they have gathered.
And now see how it happened. The tidings of the Lord's resurrection had evidently blown abroad. Mary Magdalene had come in and told her tale. Her Galilean friends had also come and told the apostles. You may think it a strange thing that the testimony of these dear, devoted women was not believed. Make what you like of it, but it was so. In fact, the Spirit of God tells us that their testimony was regarded as "idle tales" (Luke 24:11). The resurrection of Jesus, the victory of redeeming love, the testimony to all that was accomplished in His death, when it was first promulgated, was then, even by His own, regarded as an idle tale. Little wonder there is infidelity today. Look at the semi-infidelity rampant among God's own people to-day as to the inspiration of the Scriptures, and "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
And now we read, “And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs" (ver. 13). That is about eight miles. “And they talked together of all these things which had happened" (ver. 14). Their hearts were deeply interested in Christ. God has been careful to tell us what they were speaking about. They could think of nothing else, though I do not doubt they were bewildered by what had happened to the One they loved. “And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them" (ver. 15). Now I beg you to notice that little word "himself." I think the great point of Luke 24. Is "himself." Presently you will find, "He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (ver. 27). A little later we find, “Jesus himself stood in the midst of them" (ver. 36). And then again, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself" (ver. 39). The great point is a risen Man, the same Jesus, but risen. That is the point undoubtedly of the evangelist in this chapter.
There are many Christians to-day who think of Jesus in His life and pathway, and yet in their hearts they are not at home with Him. Why? Because somehow to them the Jesus in resurrection is a different kind of Jesus, a little further off. Something has changed Him. I do not doubt that is why the Spirit of God says so strikingly in the Epistle of John: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5: 20, 21). I do not think it is at all the question of earthly idols here. It is to keep yourself from any thought of God that does not find its perfect counterpart in Jesus. Because God is only known in Him. If I have a thought of God that is not expressed in Jesus, I have an idol before my mind, and not the true God. Therefore I believe the Spirit of God lays great emphasis here upon this word “Jesus himself."
What was it drew the Lord to these wayfarers going to Emmaus? I do not doubt it was the perfect knowledge He had of what was going on in their hearts. Because, next to recovering a backslider, if He finds a saint in bewilderment, distress, or perplexity, how He loves to draw near and put that person right. Have you not known the Lord drawing near to you many a time, when you have been worried and perplexed, and you could not exactly unravel things? How He has by His Word, or some bit of ministry through one of His servants, come in and met you, and helped you. Just like the thirteenth chapter of John, where He takes a basin of water, and a towel, and washes His disciples' feet, so as to put them at perfect rest in His presence. Oh for an adequate sense of how He loves us. Have you any sense of His personal love for you? You say, "I know He loves the Church." You may know that and yet be miserable. But when you come to this, "He loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20), things become personal. You may depend upon it, that what the Lord delights in is the apprehension of His own personal affection, and also the responsive love that flows from our hearts to Himself. Do you know what He looks for? Two kinds of heart. A “boiling heart," and a “burning heart." He does not care for any other but these. In Psalm 45. it speaks of a "boiling heart." Alas! oftentimes our hearts are not even on the simmer. When you put your finger into a pot that is just on the simmer, it is not hot enough to make you pull your finger out. But a boiling pot, ah! there is warmth there. What the Lord looks for is a heart with warmth in it. In the Psalm alluded to I get the way the love comes out. Here, I get the way it is produced.
You say, “I wish my heart would burn." Just take a journey to Emmaus with Jesus, and I will guarantee your heart will burn by the time you get there. Now look again at these two travelers, as Jesus joins them. We read, “But their eyes were holden that they should not know him" (ver. 16). The eyes of a great many saints are “holden " to-day. I wonder whether you have ever noticed that their eyes were “holden" in verse 16, and their eyes were " opened " in verse 31. Now, dear friends, why was that? Lots of things are allowed to come in and hinder the soul. Well, you say, they were not intelligent. Ah, I tell you what will open the eyes—a burning heart. When your affection is right you will very soon see things. People sometimes say, "We do not see." The question is, Do you want to see? If you were to see such and such things, it is very likely they would cut you off from a good deal you are going on with now. I believe at the bottom we sometimes do not want to see the truth. Our hearts are very like Zipporah's. She said, “A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision" (Exod. 4:26). She did not like death any more than you or I like it. But she knew very well if she was to keep her husband, her lad had to be circumcised. She had to accept death. It is a great thing to have the "burning" heart and the "open" eye. The Lord give both to us.
“And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?" (ver. 17). Suppose the Lord crossed our path to-day and said, “What are you talking about?" do you truly think He would find us talking about Him, His interests, and His things? It is very good for us if it be so. But if not, we shall have just to own how true was the word of the Lord, "My people have forgotten me days without number" (Jer. 2:32). Blessed be His name, He has never forgotten us.
And now we read, "And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?" Now you might have thought it strange because I said just now this couple were man and wife. I have pretty good reason for thinking so. Here we get the name of the man-Cleopas. If you turn to the nineteenth chapter of John, you there apparently get his wife spoken about. “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene" (ver. 25). Then you might say to me, That would not be conclusive. No, but their invitation to the Lord, “Abide with us” (ver. 29), would show that they lived together, that is pretty certain.
And there is yet another reason I can advance. Do you know why the Spirit of God in the fifteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, when citing the testimonies to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, selects only five out of the eleven appearings? Turn to it and just see what I mean.
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James: then of all the apostles" (1 Cor. 15:3-7). These are only five out of the eleven times He was seen. Mary Magdalene is omitted, and her Galilean friends; the two going to Emmaus, the appearing of the Lord in the upper room on the first day, the appearing likewise at the Sea of Galilee when the seven saw Him, and the appearing down in Galilee, recorded in Matthew 28, are all left out. In every one of these six instances, unbelief of the testimony to Christ's resurrection was displayed, and in most of them you will find women were present. For some reason or other God has been pleased to omit every instance in which women were present.
On the first day of the week, in the upper room, I conclude that women were present, when Thomas was not (Luke 24:33; John 20:19). We are not told that any were present the next week when He was seen "of the twelve." It was manifestly not an apostolic company only that we find in Luke 24, because to begin with, Thomas was not there, and there were present a great many others beside the apostles. How do you know that? Read verse 33. There evidently was a large company. The disciples generally were gathered together, and that depicts the truth of the assembly, and the Lord was in their midst. However, I do not want to trace out that side of the truth to-night.
I have therefore, from the foregoing considerations, the deepest conviction that one of these two going to Emmaus was a woman. And it is beautiful to see that they were both of one heart. They communed and reasoned together as they went, and Jesus was the burden of their talk. If you are married, I hope you do the same. It is just what ought to be, and it is very blessed to see that when God gives you a record of this beautiful resurrection scene, He shows you a man and wife with one heart and one soul, walking to their house, and speaking together of His Son, and soon they have the blessed Lord going together with them. That was a happy house that night, and unhappy is the house that is not of that sort.
Well, Cleopas answers the Stranger's query by— “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?" (ver. 18). Very simple and very touching is that answer given to the total Stranger that addressed them. You might say, “Why did they not know Him?" Turn to Mark 16 for a moment, and I think you will get the reason. “After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them" (Mark 16:12, 13). Their testimony was not believed, just as, apparently, the disciples had not accepted the testimony of the “certain women of our company," who earlier in the day “astonished" them by saying "he was alive" (vers. 22, 23).
That was the reason, possibly, why their eye was holden. The Lord sometimes puts Himself in our company that we may learn just where we are in the history of our souls. He likes us to be real and genuine. We may be hypocrites before each other-that is, one may appear to be what he is not. Verily that is our danger. But He always likes to see the truth. He looks for the truth, and I do not think when He finds the truth, as He did find it in them, that the Lord was in any sense angry with them, though He may rebuke them for their unbelief. But for the Lord to find you and me true and real, on the way, is a great thing. I think He values and estimates it. And what does He find here? What I have no doubt was very attractive to His heart, a sorrowful and unintelligent couple, but a couple deeply interested in Him and His things. This led to His inquiry—" What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days. And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people" (vers. 17-19).
Do you think there was no joy to His heart to hear this couple speak out what they felt with regard to Him? He loves to hear us talk about Him. Do you not know what it says in the Old Testament? “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name" (Mal. 3:16). Here were two weary pilgrims on earth, and He hearkens to them. Listen to them, as they talk to Him in the most beautiful way, and describe what their feelings were in regard to Himself, though they knew Him not at the moment. He was a very interested listener, as they continue, “And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him" (ver. 20). That is what Israel had done. And now they tell the disappointment of their own hearts—" But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." They thought of the King: they thought of the glory and the establishment of the kingdom; and I do not doubt they were disappointed and dejected. Have you never been dejected? What a wonderful thing if the Lord draws near to you and brings Himself in as the spring of peace, joy, and gladness to your oppressed heart-the blessed heavenly answer to the many things here which have disappointed or dejected you. Their hopes connected with Him had all been dashed to the ground by His death, and apparently all was gone, though they admit their astonishment at what they had heard, but, evidently, had not believed.
“And beside all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher; and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive" (vers. 21-23). They tell the story very simply. Then they add, “And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even so as the women had said; but him they saw not" (ver. 24). There is a volume in those four words, “Him they saw not." Do you know why they did not see Him? They did not expect to. Did you see the Lord last Lord's Day morning in the meeting for the breaking of bread? “Oh, it was rather a dull meeting." Was Christ dull? “Oh, well, you know, things were not at all bright." Ah, you did not see Him? Shall I tell you why? You did not expect to. You went to meet somebody else, or expecting to hear the voice of someone else. It was not Christ alone that drew you.
Many a time I have seen saints gathered upon right ground, and yet it could be said of them, “Him they saw not." Why? Because it was not Himself alone they went to see, and He let them have the fruit of their unbelief. DO you know the secret of happy, hearty, worshipful meetings? It is when every saint has come just to see Him, to meet Him, and to worship Him. “Him they saw not," is a serious allegation. Whenever you come away from a meeting gathered to His name and you have not seen Him, you may depend upon it the fault was not His, and it would be a great mistake to put the fault upon your brethren. You may depend upon it there was something wrong with yourself. Something needing judging had been allowed. This statement on their part now leads the Lord to say that which we all should ponder and take to heart.
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken" (ver. 25). How true of us. How foolish are we oftentimes, and how slow of heart to believe the word. And then He says, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” (ver. 26). Let us put ourselves back into their position that day, and think what a Jew looked for. The coming of the Messiah in power, the setting up of the kingdom, and the introduction of the glory, were the things which, according to Scripture, a godly Jew looked for. How deep then their disappointment, and the Lord understood it. And although He might chide them for unbelief, see how sweetly He passes on to say, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” The sufferings and the glory go together. When you read the Old Testament you see that is the way in which it is put. It is the suffering first and then the glory. When I come to the New Testament, what I find is this, Paul has the deep sense of what it is to know Christ in glory, and hence he is prepared for the suffering. What made him here such a man as he was, willing to suffer anything for Christ, was the knowledge of Christ in glory.
"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (ver. 27). I think the Lord will forgive me, if you do not, for saying, how I should have liked to have been there that day. Would not you, brethren? Would not you have liked to have made the fourth that day, and hear Him open up "in all the scriptures the things concerning himself"? Why, sometimes your heart has fairly boiled, and the tears have run down your cheeks with joy as you have heard some bit of ministry of Christ from the lips of a poor servant of His. But think what it must have been to have heard Him going through the Scriptures from Moses on, and from type, shadow, figure, offering and sacrifice, picking out that which told of Himself, and so expounding it that their hearts began to burn. No wonder, the fact was this, they had never met such a Stranger, they had never had such ministry, and never had such company before.
And this lovely exposition went on during an eight mile journey. We can well understand what it produced. It wrought the most exquisite expression of true fellowship. The effect of that ministry was this, their hearts were knit to the Stranger, although they had no notion who He was. He was able to speak so beautifully about the One who was dearest to their hearts that they craved for more of this ministry and fellowship. I do not know any scene in Scripture that expresses more sweetly the effect of real ministry of Christ. That always knits the heart to Christ, and to the one who so ministers. They did not know who it was who was so preciously unfolding Christ to them. He immensely gladdened their hearts as He spoke of Him who was the burden and testimony of all Scripture. It made Christ increasingly precious to their souls; and ministry that does not do that is worthless, whether it be from my lips or anybody else's. If it does not minister Christ, and make Him more precious to the soul, it is valueless. Thus it is that true fellowship is produced.
This chapter presents a lovely picture of the way in which the Lord, in resurrection, opens up the Scriptures to His own people. Presently you will find He opens their eyes (ver. 31), and then He opens their understandings (ver. 43). It is a wonderful chapter of divine openings this twenty-fourth of Luke, beginning with an open grave and closing with an opened heaven. Continuing its instruction, we read, "And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further" (ver. 28). How beautiful is that touch. Christ never forces His company on us. He did not force it that day, and He does not do it this day. I can tell you exactly how much of Christ you will get. As much as you really want. “He made as though he would have gone further." And now I get the right state. “But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us" (ver. 29). The courtesy that ever marked Him, and was one of the perfections of His pathway as a Man, is seen here. What right had He to enter that house? He had a right, but He did not assert it. The question was this, did they want Him?
He will never compel me to have His company. I do not deny what I may call the compulsion of grace upon the sinner, but, where a saint is concerned, He does not so act. Do you and I covet His company? “He made as though he would have gone further." I think I see them. Do they say, "Here is our house, will you come in?” Oh no, it was not that kind of thing. He says, “I am going on." "But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." They had to ask Him perhaps more than once. There is such a thing as the love of Christ constraining us. But here it was the love of saints constraining Him. It is reciprocal constraint.
Look at the sequel—" And he went in to tarry with them" (ver. 29). Ah! how glad their hearts were. They had His company who had made their hearts burn with ministry, the like of which they had never heard before. “And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them " (ver. 30). Here of course He takes His true place. He must be the master of the house. He is not the guest now. All is His. And sitting at the table, what does He do? “He took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to them." At once there is a recognition of Himself, and of His authority. “And their eyes were opened, and they knew him." And you may ask me, Is this the Lord's Supper? It is not exactly the Lord's Supper, and yet it is exactly that which should take place at the Lord's Supper. He gives thanks, breaks the bread, and gives it to them. There is the ministry of Himself to the heart, and the eye is opened to discover His presence and His beauty.
I do not know what you have learned in your spiritual history; but I freely confess that I have never learned in the solitude of my closet, when all alone, in a Bible reading, or at a lecture on Scripture, I have never learnt God, or learnt the truth there as I have learnt in the Assembly, and in the breaking of bread, where it has been the Lord Himself who has been the minister of His own table. It is a wonderful thing to be under the direct ministry of Christ, with man shut entirely outside. The effect is immediate: “And their eyes were opened, and they knew him." If you want the truth you will get it. If you really want to have what suits Him, and to follow Him, He will give you your desire. So it was here.
The recognition of the Lord being complete, we read: “And he vanished out of their sight. And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (ver. 32). It is a wonderful thing to get the Scriptures divinely opened up, for that kind of ministry of Christ always causes the heart to burn. If the Spirit of God comes and ministers Christ in His love, grace, beauty, and glory to your soul, you may depend on it, your heart will respond. And if it does not respond, you may well question if you are a child of God at all. It is easy enough to profess Christ. It is easy to say, “I am a Christian." But if my heart does not thrill when Christ is ministered, I may well question if I am a child of God at all. Do you say, You will put many of our hearts and burn after, it will be all right. And if they never burn, there is something wrong somewhere. You get alone with the Lord, and if your heart does not burn while He talks with you, you may depend upon it, there is something radically wrong. The Lord give us a little more of the burning heart. It is a heart that turns first to Him in real affection, and then has something for others shaking? Well, if they shake first. This is the characteristic too of a boiling heart.
Do you often speak to others of Jesus? No. You have not a boiling heart then, I fear. A boiling pot is apt to boil over. We always know a boiling pot, and if there be one thing more than another that I love to meet in this world, it is a boiling saint. Some Christians whom you meet are rather like big blocks of ice. They chill one. God keep you and me from being that kind of saint. Give me a saint that will melt me, touch my conscience, furnish my understanding, and reach my heart. That is what I find on the resurrection day. Christ's company produced it then, and now does just the same. Look at the effect on those two disciples. Had it been most of us, we should very likely have said, “We have had a very nice profitable evening, and now we will just sit quietly still and enjoy what we have heard." Not so with them. They had just gone into their house, and what do we next read? “And they rose up early next morning and returned to Jerusalem." That might have sufficed us, but not this pair. “And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem." A little while before it was too late for their unknown Instructor to go farther, now it was not too late, nor were they too tired, to trudge back that eight long miles and spread the joyful news regarding Jesus and the resurrection. The wondrous discovery they have made they must needs share with others. This is real Christianity. Carry to and share with others all that God has given your own soul to know and enjoy.
Would to God, dear fellow-believers, that you and I were more like this couple. Do brother Cleopas and his wife live in your district? This devoted and rejoicing pair, in the shades of night, returned to Jerusalem, "and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon " (vers. 33, 34). They go in order to tell their news, and as they get in at the door they get their own faith most beautifully confirmed, as someone immediately exclaims, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." God always confirms the soul that receives and answers to the truth.
“And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread “(ver. 35). Do you break bread often? “Once or twice in a year." What a poor half-starved sheep you must be. Many a Christian says, “I like better to hear the preaching." I have no doubt they do. But hearing a servant speak must never supersede the breaking of bread. You will get more for your soul in one divinely-ordained breaking of bread than in fifty sermons. In the Lord's Supper you get the personal touch of the Lord Himself. You get the knowledge of His love and the sense of His grace, as nowhere else. I am persuaded the Spirit has a great meaning in recording “how he was known of them in breaking of bread."
What follows is deeply interesting. The Lord Himself at that moment entered the company, saying, “Peace unto you." Then followed the attestations in relation to His veritable Manhood, and the truth of His resurrection, as He makes them touch Him, and then eats before them. Of this scene I will speak a little more, please God, another night.
May the fruit of our coming together to-night be to know the Lord better, and have His love more fully enjoyed by our souls. If there has been a bit of distance from Christ allowed, may we get deeply in our souls the sense, that to be where He is, is everything. It makes all the difference in the world what ministry you sit under. I sometimes ask people, “Who is your minister?" Is it that risen One in glory? Is it really the ministry of the Holy Ghost? To myself and to my fellow-servants I like to say, If our ministry does not shake people off ourselves, and attach them to Christ, it is not proper ministry. Right ministry is that which makes Christ precious, and helps the soul to get nearer to Christ. Thus you see He gets His right place in the affections of His loved ones. May you get your eyes opened and your understanding too, and you will find this to be a grand day in which you live-the resurrection day. Luke 24 is full of Christ, and the hearts of the disciples then were absorbed with Christ. He was everything to them, and the end of all is reached-they worshipped Him and were full of joy (vers. 51, 52).
Address 4: the Appearing in the Upper Room
(John 20:19-25.) JOH 20:19-25
OF all the appearances of the Lord to His disciples in resurrection, there is none that eclipses the one that I read of to-night, in general interest, and likewise in the far-reaching character of the truth that is unfolded on that occasion. What a wonderful thing for the First-born from among the dead to appear in the midst of a company whom He owns as His “brethren." Next to His birth, and His death and resurrection, I think I might say it was the most wonderful scene that ever happened on earth. Think of it for a moment. The First-born from among the dead, the First-born of many brethren, is seen in the midst of His brethren; but on no account would I call Him our Elder Brother. No! My soul shrinks from that expression; because, although, in His infinite grace, He calls us His brethren, it ill becomes us to call Him Brother. He is our Lord; I think the lesson of the next Lord's Day may teach us that, when Thomas says to Him, “My Lord, and my God" (ver. 28).
Now I do not doubt that it was Mary Magdalene's testimony, as has often been said, gathered the disciples together. They did not believe her, to begin with; but through the day evidently credence sprung up that Jesus was risen. In the evening, therefore, when it was dark, and I suppose nobody could see them, they came together. They learnt on that resurrection day that Christianity, if they then understood at all what it was, was a thing altogether apart from the world. That is a great lesson to start with. And with doors shut “for fear of the Jews” and to shut out the world, we find them together. The Holy Ghost lets us know that what really filled their hearts was fear, but, thank God, it was not very long before the fear of man was cast out by the peace of God. When Jesus came in, it made all the difference. And it is true to this hour, when He comes in everything is altered.
Now the way that John presents the truth here, I need scarcely say, is most beautifully in keeping with the character of his Gospel. Luke records things that occurred this wonderful evening that John does not allude to. I do not want you to miss the meaning of each record. That is easily done by taking the statement God has been pleased to give us, by each evangelist, out of its place. Each is perfect in its place. In these addresses, however, I am not unfolding to you the particular character of each Gospel, but just seeking that we may see the whole situation from all its sides, as God has presented it.
God's object in recording these scenes is to give us a deeper knowledge of the Christ whom you and I know. I do not say you all know Him. There are many believers to-day who do not seem to know Him. They would not deny His existence, His love or grace; but still I meet many a saint who is not at home with Christ. Their walk, ways, conversation, and whole manner of life show that they are at home in a different scene altogether. I believe the great point of these manifestations in resurrection is to impress upon our souls the blessed truth that an unchanged Christ is before our hearts. If you have travelled with Him through the Gospels, you will have learned much of His character. I will ask you, Have you done it? I do not ask you, Have you read your Bible, but, Have you travelled with Christ through the Gospels? Do you read them so as to put yourself in His company? You will never know Him otherwise; because the Spirit of God is not going to make revelations of Christ to you and me if we are lazy in perusing the record He has already given us of Him. I do not believe it for one single moment.
There is one thing God cannot do for us. God will not read the Bible for you, young brother. And God will not read your Bible for you, young sister. You will have to read it, and I shall have to read it, if we are going to learn Christ. Ah, you say to me, but Christ is now in a new place. I know. Christ is glorified. He is a Man in glory. As Man there in righteousness, He now shares with us all the blessedness of that place, and the Holy Ghost has come to dwell in us and carry our hearts to Him where He now is. But I believe the more I learn what Christ was as He passed through this scene the more the Spirit of God will give my heart to know Him where He now is. All that God has given us in these precious Gospels, as well as the Acts and the Epistles, is to make our hearts acquainted with Himself. If I want to know you, I must live with you. And if you want to know me, you will have to live with me. And it is exactly the same with the Lord. We have to keep His company.
Let us now see what took place this first evening. There are three evangelists who record this appearing of the Lord. In the last chapter of Mark's Gospel you have it simply referred to. There is no detail, and it is only Mark that tells us they had gathered together for an evening meal. " Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen " (ver. 14.). Mark tells that the Lord rebuked them because of unbelief. That is to say, what was natural to the heart had come out, and the Lord rebuked it. The great lesson is this, the Lord Jesus does not like unbelief. He likes faith. That is what I get out of Mark's pen as regards this appearance.
There is a great deal more of the human side of things with Luke than with John. That is perfectly in keeping with his Gospel. You have the divine Person of the Son in John's Gospel, and truth connected therewith. In Luke we read that when the two returned from Emmaus and entered the upper room, they “found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them" (ver. 33). That is an important verse, because immense ecclesiastical fabrics have been built in Christendom, with an utterly rotten foundation, viz., that this company was only apostolic.
The eleven were there most certainly; but the added word in Luke's Gospel, "and them that were with them," shows that it was the general company of the disciples. I am inclined to think it was a large company, though perhaps not more than "one hundred and twenty," which is the number the Spirit of God tells us were gathered together for prayer in the first chapter of Acts. It was not, however, only an apostolic company, and that is a point of prime importance to bear in mind. That company had been gathered together from many parts, the disciples having heard, from Mary, the message sent to His brethren that morning by the risen Lord. Into their midst come the two from Emmaus with their news, and they are met by the testimony, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon" (ver. 34). It was manifest that Simon had seen Him, and had let the brethren know. But resurrection is a strange thing to the human mind; it is so out of the ordinary. Christ risen from the dead was a totally new thought to the disciples. To them Jesus was about to appear, in the same body in which He laid down His life, but now in a new condition altogether.
And now we read, " And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you " (Luke 24:36). That undoubtedly is the same apparition recorded in John 20:19. He comes into their midst, and the first word is, “Peace unto you." Ah, brethren, what a blessed thing it is to have the sense in our souls that there is a new era inaugurated, an era of peace. The first note struck among the company that belongs to the risen Christ is, “Peace unto you."
I daresay you have been struck with the way peace is spoken of in the New Testament. If not, notice the testimony with regard to the Lord before He was born? Just go back to the first of Luke for a moment. Zacharias, filled with the Holy Ghost, says, the effect of the visit of the dayspring from on high would be "to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (ver. 79). That is the great thought before the mind of the Spirit of God through the mouth of Zacharias. Light and peace were coming in Christ. When He was born, as recorded in Luke's second chapter, you get, " And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men " (vers. 13, 14). What was specially connected with Christ was peace.
Then you know He was rejected, but, if you turn to the nineteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel, you will see how the subject comes out again. When the Lord was on His way up to Jerusalem, yea, to death, we read, " And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest" (vers. 37, 38). In the second chapter it was “Peace on earth." But that day has not come. The Lord has been rejected, and now the Spirit of God leads our souls to the spot where He is. “Peace in heaven." And that is the truth for to-day.
What is the next thing? The death of Christ laid the righteous basis of eternal peace. That wonderful work of redemption having been accomplished by the blessed Lord, we read of His “having made peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:20). Let me here ask you, Have you peace? My dear friend, you are not in the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is not in you, if that is not the case. Why? Because we read, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). What marks the kingdom of God? The blessed rule of grace, love, and goodness. “It is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." And if you have not peace, you are not in it. “Am I not then a Christian?" you ask. That is not for me to decide; I am only telling you where you are not. If you have not peace you are not in the atmosphere of resurrection. You have not touched what Christ came to effect and to proclaim.
He rises from the dead, and the very first word He says to the company is, “Peace unto you." It is a reign of peace, for He is the Prince of Peace, hence we read, " He came and preached peace to you which were afar off; and to them that were nigh" (Eph. 2:17). Again, Peter speaks of "preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all) " (Acts 10:36). In Christ's death, burial, and resurrection I see that sin is put away, the power of the enemy broken, the history of the first man ended, and death left behind, completely annulled. As connected with Him risen we enter a new scene. It is the atmosphere of the Father's House.
It is the holy sphere where the Son dwells. He says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you" (John 14:27). What had filled His heart all through the pathway here? Peace. What is the first thing He says after He is risen from the dead? “Peace unto you." How do you get it? “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). Christ is it. On the cross He made it. Risen, He proclaims it. In faith you receive it, and in the power of the Holy Ghost you enjoy it.
Not having yet received the Holy Ghost, the disciples at the outset did not enjoy peace that day, for we read, “But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit" (Luke 24:37). There are many believers, alas, to-day terrified and affrighted. Why so? They have not got Christ simply before them. “And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" (ver. 28). The grace of the Lord here is excellent. Are you troubled in your mind? Listen to what He says. Have you any ground for it? Have you any occasion for it? “Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" Ah, brethren, this is Christ's way with the troubled. We see others troubled, and perhaps say, “Poor souls," but leave them still in their misery, making no great effort to help them. In all this we are not much like Christ. No, He ever stoops to put a troubled person at peace.
Do you think the Lord wants a person with a troubled mind in His presence? Never. And if you get thoroughly into His presence, you will neither have troubles, nor will “thoughts arise in your heart." Ah, my dear brother and sister, there is the secret of all our troubles. Instead of being simple, childlike, and resting in the calm of His presence and the perfect exhibition of His love, what a tempest do “thoughts " often produce. But when you are in trouble, and have these thoughts, how Jesus loves to draw near and say, “Peace unto you." He brings in, I repeat, a reign of peace.
Now carefully notice what He said to His disciples. “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself." He invites them to be assured it is really Himself. Whenever you know His voice, and are sure that it is the Lord Himself that is dealing with you, depend upon it, your soul will get sweet peace too. “Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (ver. 39), is then His command. Not a word about His blood. Oh, no. That precious blood, that life-blood of His had been given in atonement. As we read, " For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul " (Lev. 17:1). Yes, His precious life's blood has flowed forth in death, the blood that cleanseth from all sin. That blood has glorified God. Well may the Spirit of God call it “the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:19), for, indeed, it is blood whose far-reaching value has no limit. For the believer it quenches the flames of the lake of fire and opens the doors of heaven. That blood brings us nigh to God. We cannot over-estimate the blood. Do not let us forget the untold value of the blood of Christ in this day, for the tendency all round about us is to make light of that blood. God forbid that you or I should fall into so grave an error, so deep a sin!
It was when the Lord Jesus was dead upon the cross that His precious blood flowed forth. It was the expression of sullen hate that led the Roman soldier to pierce His side; but the point of his spear brought out the precious blood of the blessed Son of God, which was the expression of His deep and wondrous love to us. That blood “speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:24), and it made peace. “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have," expresses the risen condition of the Lord. His blood He has given for us. The reason that His Church can, by the Holy Ghost, be united to Him in glory is, that He has given His life's blood for it, He has purchased and redeemed it, and everything is based upon His blood. Testimony to the blood runs, like a scarlet line, right through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It begins with “the coats of skin” (Gen. 3:2) and closes with “the blood of the Lamb." There will be a renewed company in the millennial day who will fill the earth with praise, for they "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:14), just as we can now sing, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5).
The call of the Lord on His disciples to handle Him was to convince them of the identity of His Person, that it was indeed just Himself, risen, and again in their midst. “And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet" (ver. 40). This is very touching. Here were the marks of the nails. Here in His side was the testimony of death. "And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?" (ver. 42). The object before His mind was plain. Wonder and joy were mingled in their minds, and I can understand the mixed state of their hearts. They were thrilled with joy, while hampered with unbelief and wonder. His words, “Have ye here any meat?” made the reality of His presence absolute to them. "And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them" (vers. 41, 42). All was now clear. Every mist of doubt tolled away as they saw Him eat.
It is very touching to notice the way God puts things in His Word. When the Lord was going to give them the most conclusive testimony as to the reality of His Person, He eats the broiled fish and honeycomb, which they had provided for themselves, to assure them it is really Himself. When you come to John 21, again there was broiled fish, but it was provided by Him to assure them that He cared for them. How rich and deep is the grace that ever provides that which will confirm our faith, and feed and sustain our souls.
Now why have we these details so specifically related to us? What does all this mean? It is the irrefragable proof that the Jesus of the Gospels and the risen Jesus is the same. And though eighteen hundred years have rolled by, He is the same in His tender love, sympathy, and grace as He was that day. Oh, to know Him better. You will find Christians to-day with a good deal of doubt, and with many “thoughts" in their hearts. I do not think, beloved friends, that such Christians are marked by great joy. Do you find them with an inward spring of joy always bubbling up? I cannot say that I do. Christ is not well known, because His company is not cultivated. The joy of His presence not being coveted, the sense of His boundless love is not known.
Now, my dear friends, I need not say these things ought not so to be. May God give you and me, therefore, to live more in the sunshine of His presence. We should seek to be like the little girl that got the prize for her rose-tree. She lived in an alley-poor little cripple-but strange to say she got the prize.
Somebody was very much surprised, and came to see how it was. “Oh," said she, “I will tell you how it is. My room has three windows. I always put the rose-tree at that window in the morning which first gets the sun, and when the sun comes round, I put it in this window, and when it goes round to that window, I put it there. I always keep my rose-tree in the sun." Sensible child! My friend, you get into the sun of Jesus' presence and stay there. Keep in the sunshine of His love and grace, yes, keep yourself always in the sun. My young fellow-Christian, do not you be thinking of fruit, or leaves, or anything else. You think of Christ, all will come right then.
Let us turn now to John 20 again, and see what came out there. I do not doubt that God gives us there a picture of the Assembly on earth. We reach heaven in spirit, but as a matter of fact we are still on earth; God gives us there in a most beautiful way that which presents to us the Assembly as under the eye of God. It was the testimony of the truth that gathered them together. The Lord had said to Mary, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." She carried the message, and its effect was that they were gathered together. We read, “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you" (ver. 19). The disciples were gathered together, and observe, none but the disciples. There was not a Judas there, and Thomas also was not there. I think he missed the finest meeting of all by being absent. Do you know what kept Thomas away? I do not, but very little trifles often keep you and me from gathering together before the Lord. A very paltry thing will keep us away from a meeting. And that is often the time when the Spirit of God gives the most blessed view of Christ to the gathered ones. Thomas missed a grand opportunity. It is a lesson to you and me never to miss an opportunity of gathering with the saints of God if we have the opportunity.
The central truth of this first gathering is the glorious fact of their having Jesus in their midst. And that is just the Assembly. Perhaps some of you have not thought much about this. Where are you going next Lord's Day? I am going to hear So-and-so preach. Do you think that is what we have here? It bears no resemblance whatever to it. What I find here is this, a little company of those who were the Lord's gathered together, and the Lord Himself in their midst. Then He makes Himself known in a wonderful way. First of all He brings in peace, and then fills their hearts with joy. “And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord" (ver. 20). There we get the secret of joy. There are four great things in John 19 and 20. The death of Christ, which is the basis of all blessing; then His resurrection, which is the proof of His victory over the enemy; then the Lord in the midst of His own people, saying, “Peace unto you "; and then the next thing is joy. On His side were death and resurrection: on our side are peace and joy.
All this is hinted at in John 14-16. In chap. 14:27 He gives them peace. In chap. 15:11 He gives them joy. In chap. 16. He says, "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father " (ver. 16). Their joy no man was to take from them (16:22), and their peace was to be as abiding as Himself, for He says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace" (16:33).
And now we further read, " Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (20:21). God expects us to be a peaceful company. If we go out in this world, we should have our “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15). And does not God also expect us to be joyful? Assuredly, “Rejoice in the Lord alway” (Phil. 4:4), is the Spirit's command, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). Show me a joyful Christian, and I will show you a vigorous, healthy one. But supposing I find a Christian that is an everlasting complainer, that person is not happy, and has not his feet shod with peace. Where, on the other hand, a saint is going on in the gladness of the Lord's love, there is a powerful testimony. There is nothing like abiding joy flowing from the knowledge of Christ, to affect those round about you.
And now observe the character of the commission the Lord gives His own. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (ver. 21). Where had He come from? The Father's house—the very atmosphere of peace and joy. Ere He died He had said to His Father in His wonderful prayer: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world " (John 17:16-18).
How did the Father send Him into the world? To be the expression of all the love, grace, tender goodness, and holiness too, of which the Father Himself was the spring. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," are wonderful words indeed, and it is an immense thing for each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to bear them in mind. Remember He spoke them not to an apostolic company, but to all His own. You say, “I am going to heaven." It is quite true. Did you ever get the truth in your soul that you have come from it? This truth comes out in Acts 10. There Peter saw a great sheet coming down from heaven, and it went up again to heaven. What Peter saw inside that sheet was very wonderful.
In that sheet were “all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air" (Acts 10:17). That is just a figure of what you and I have been. But, touched by God, and born of God, we have come from heaven, even as through infinite grace we are going there. I do not doubt it is all a question of association with Christ; Christ is there, and we are quickened with Christ, and then, by the Holy Ghost, united to Him. Nevertheless it is a wonderful thing for the Christian to discover, "as is the heavenly [Christ], such are they also that are heavenly [Christ's]. And as we have borne the image of the earthy [Adam], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly [Christ]" (1 Cor. 15:48, 49). Hear it again. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." Now do not you tell me that this is an apostolic charge. That is an easy way to avoid privilege as well as responsibility, and get away from the truth. Let us rather seek to get into the joy of our Lord's words. We come from heaven, and we are going to heaven. The Christian is a heavenly being. You most probably have heard the following story regarding the late Mr. J. N. Darby. A worldly Christian once said to him, “What is the harm of hunting?" “Let me ask you a question before I answer yours," said this venerable servant of God. “What would you think if you saw an angel on horseback in a hunting field?" “Oh, that would never do, an angel is a heavenly being," was the immediate reply. “Exactly so," said J. N. D., "that is what I am, and what every Christian is. He belongs to heaven."
This is a most important principle. It is not the question, Is this wrong, or is that wrong, but this-. Is that the kind of thing that suits a heavenly person? On the other hand, it is not that you have to go round trumpeting that you are heavenly. Those who do so usually illustrate the proverb, “The legs of the lame are not equal” (Prov. 26:7). The person that is in the enjoyment of what is heavenly, always has the deepest sense in his soul of how little he practically expresses this truth. The nearer we are to the Lord, the less we are in our own eyes. But the further away from the Lord we are, the bigger we become in our own eyes. Let us not forget this, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost “(ver. 22). Now what have you here? Of course it was not yet the day of Pentecost, so it could not be the Holy Ghost as a divine Person come to dwell in them. What was it then? Christ the risen Man was here taking His place as the second Man, the head of a new race. He was from heaven, and here He is the last Adam. God made the first man, Adam, "of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). That was for the earthly pathway here. Here is the last Adam, the second Man, alive from the dead. He had already told Mary to say to His brethren, “I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God" (John 20:17), i.e., He was going to share His place with them. And now, what does He do? He carries into effect what He had promised them in chapter 14: " Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (vers. 19, 20). He breathes His own triumphant risen life into them. It is the life of the risen Man, imparted, and to be enjoyed by the Holy Ghost. As the second Man, the last Adam, He imparts His own life.
He is the First-born among many brethren, and they are one with Himself in His new place. It is all effected by the Holy Ghost. Here we get His breathing on them, and then the absolute gift of the Holy Ghost in Acts 2 " Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren " (Heb. 2:11). But it is Christ Himself here associating His brethren with Himself, and communicating to them His own life and place before God as the risen Man. Hence we can understand the words "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:4).
If you will now turn to Rom. 8 for a moment, you will find that chapter gives us a great deal of instruction about the Spirit of God, which I would like to indicate to you. I have no doubt the truth that is taught by the Lord's breathing on them and saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost," is that which is unfolded in the first eleven verses of Rom. 8. It is the Spirit as life. It is not yet the Spirit as power. This chapter gives you the two sides of the truth, with regard to the Spirit of God, the Spirit as life, and as power. It is the Spirit as life, nature, and moral power, in Christ, up to the eleventh verse, and then onward you have the Holy Ghost as a divine Person dwelling in the Christian, as power for the enjoyment of the new relationship with God, known as Father, and for all the pathway of holy life here below.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom. 8:1-6). Mark these last words. It is not the peace of the fifth chapter; that is, that sins are all forgiven and blotted out. But it is this, in the Holy Ghost we have life and peace. That which is true of us in Christ objectively is made true in you and me subjectively. He said when here, “I am the truth" (John 14:6). Why does it say elsewhere, "The Spirit is truth "? (John 5:6). Everything that belongs to me as a believer is true of me in Christ. That is the objective side of the subject. But the Spirit dwelling in the Christian makes it true in him experimentally, and Christ is really formed in him, and comes out of him in practical ways. Christ is my life, my peace, my joy, my redemption, my sanctification, yea, everything. Further, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus is our God and Father too, consequently, " And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father " (Gal. 4:6). There the Holy Ghost is seen as a divine Person dwelling in the believer.
But here the Lord breathes on them, for they are to have life in the Spirit. In the second of Acts the Holy Ghost comes down and dwells in them, and makes everything good in them. Fifty days had to elapse before these disciples knew that wondrous blessing. I do not know that fifty minutes must necessarily elapse in your case and mine, after really believing in Jesus, before we receive the Holy Ghost. This is clearly seen in the case of Cornelius (see Acts 10). The Spirit of God gives us to know what it is to be forgiven, and to know that Christ is our life; and that He comes and dwells in the one who believes. The Spirit is life in you, and the Spirit is power likewise.
We now come to a passage that has in my judgment been sadly misunderstood. On it Rome and some of her daughters have built monstrous claims as to forgiveness of sins for eternity being in the hands of the Church so called-really the clergy. On the other hand Protestants have shrunk from its plain and simple teaching, and utterly neglected its use. The Lord said on this occasion to His gathered people, " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained " (ver. 23). Now, that carries you of course a little further than the twentieth of John as to actuality. I do not doubt this instruction is both individual and collective. He so to speak says, “I will leave you in this scene to act administratively for Me." This, first of all, is connected with the testimony as to the forgiveness of sins which was to be preached in His name. I believe that not only those who heard the Lord speak were responsible, but that individually, you and I are equally responsible to carry to men the sweet knowledge of the forgiveness of sins. It is not a question of our remitting them for eternity. God alone can do that. It is this, we are in the scene where Christ is not, and knowing what He has accomplished, the evangelist is to go out, and every Christian should be such in heart, and proclaim the good tidings of forgiveness to men. Notice that this testimony is not put in the hand of preachers only. It was not a question of preachers that night. It was the Lord saying to the whole company, " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them." When you know forgiveness yourself, you can speak of it as well as any other.
But there is more than that in, " And whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." The Church—the Assembly as such—has the administration of this. Carefully notice that which happened in Acts 2. Upon the one hundred and twenty disciples gathered together, the Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost: Peter preached the same day, and said, " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (ver. 38). What happened? Why, three thousand people received the word, were baptized, and then came to the hundred and twenty, and practically said, " We would like to take our place with you," and they manifestly remitted their sins, i.e., took them upon the ground that they were forgiven of God, and gave them the right hand of fellowship. In the fourth chapter we find there were five thousand. Here was a small company upon earth—the Church of God—born of the Spirit, washed in the blood of the Son of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God, and so baptized into one body. They knew forgiveness and enjoyed peace, and when three thousand came and said, " We would be with you," they received them in the name of the Lord, they were brought in, and thus the Church of God was added to daily (Acts 2:47). Of the newly forgiven disciples we read that "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). They walked in unity, joy, and gladness, which describes to us what was fellowship in that day.
It appears to me that the instructions of the Lord here might be administered to an individual, through an individual, or collectively by the Assembly, who on the one hand could say,” Come in," or on the other say," No, we will not let you in." Illustrations of this are found plentifully in the Acts of the Apostles. When you come to chapter 8, Philip doubtless thought he had got a great convert in Simon the sorcerer, and would have brought him in; but when Peter and John came down, they read his true state, as having neither part nor lot in the matter, and kept him out of the Assembly. The name of the Lord Jesus is the title for the simplest and lowliest that believes in His name, and seeks to walk worthy of it, to enter the Assembly, gathered to His name, and that name is the warrant for keeping outside its precincts every one that is not really walking in godliness.
What we have had passing before us manifestly describes what was a wonderful moment for the disciples. It was a great thing when they could go home and say, “We have seen the Lord." It is equally so for us. If we have seen the Lord, and got our hearts attached to Him, we shall be well fitted to pass through the scene for Him. And mark, it is that which lies open to every one of us. It is not a question of preaching. It is this, you have come from heaven, for, as a child of God, you belong to heaven, and you are commissioned by your Lord in this scene to be here for Him, and to carry to others the sweet news of His love and grace. My brethren, may the good Lord help us to spread them as we pass through this scene. If you and I fail to walk with our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, you may depend upon it, we shall lose blessing for our own souls, and be of little use to others. The Lord teach us, and lead our hearts more to Himself.
Address 5: the Appearings to Thomas and the Seven
(John 20:24-31; 21:1-25.) JOH 20:24-31; 21:1-25
THAT which we have read to-night gives the account of the sixth and seventh appearances of the Lord to His disciples in resurrection, although you may have noticed, that with regard to the latter, it says in chapter 21., " This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead " (ver. 14). That clearly is the third time as recorded by John, for we have seen that He made Himself known on the day of resurrection to five different persons or companies.
The way in which John presents the Lord in resurrection is exceedingly interesting; and I have no doubt that in the three appearances which John alone records, the Spirit of God purposely brings before us three immense circles of truth. We saw last week, when speaking on this chapter, the Lord in the midst of His disciples. You have that which is a figure of the Assembly now, the present place of privilege which Christ gives us here upon earth. It is very striking to notice, that, while John gives you so much of what you might call heavenly truth and heavenly relationship, his great point is that it is to be now known on earth. Many a saint thinks he will get wonderful blessing by-and-by. But John's great point is this, it is all to be known and enjoyed now while on earth. It is the revelation of what God is as already made known while in this scene. That is, you have the unfolding of what God is, and the sense of being in the favor of God while here.
Paul's ministry is quite different. He presents us before God, as in Christ, where Christ now is. John brings God down here. Paul takes man up there. Both are true, and both are necessary. Therefore, I repeat, that what we have in the first scene is what we as Christians should know and enjoy now. If we really are in the mind of God we shall know what it is to be gathered together as His children, enjoying His favor, led by His Spirit, and with the Lord Himself in the midst.
Thomas was not present on the occasion we have already considered, when Jesus came first into the midst of His disciples. He missed a great deal, it seems to me, by not being there. To miss a meeting may be a small thing in our minds, but Thomas missed a great deal that night. God often gives us great instruction in the history of a man, and that of Thomas is no exception. Did you ever trace out Thomas's history? It strikes me as being downward in tone. The first time he is mentioned we only get the fact that he was called by the Lord to be an apostle (Matt. 10:3). John mentions him four times.
First where we read, " Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus (he was a twin), unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him " (John 11:16). He was a devoted man there. Only a zealous man, whose heart is devoted, would say, “Let us go with the Lord though it cost us our lives."
Now come to chapter 14. “Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (ver. 5). He is ignorant Thomas there. He might have known. Had he had his ears wide open to all that he did hear, he would not have been so ignorant. Well now, what is he here in this twentieth chapter? I do not know the reason why he was not at the first meeting; but God takes good care to tell us that he was absent Thomas on that occasion, and as a consequence, incredulous, unbelieving Thomas. I do not doubt that God has brought great good out of his unbelief to many souls, still, the picture is not what I call pretty. Unbelief never pays. When the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord," he replied," Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (20:25). I do not doubt that he is a figure of the Jews, who will not believe till they see the Lord by-and-by. When you come to the next chapter, he is among the seven, who go a-fishing when they certainly had no business to, and got nothing for their pains (21:2). I trust I shall not be giving him a hard name when I call him disobedient Thomas. Here is a man who begins devoted and ends disobedient, and, in between, is ignorant and unbelieving. That man had toned down. He is mentioned once more, however (Acts 13, 14), and then is seen to be at a ten-day prayer meeting, the very best place in the world to get right, if we have toned down. Ah, my friends, it is very easy to tone down if we are not watchful. “Watch and pray “are words we all need to remember.
Let us now seek to learn the lesson of the Lord's sixth appearing. “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you" (ver. 26). First of all notice how the Lord puts His impress upon the first day of the week. There has been a little difficulty in the mind of some as to the particular place which the Lord's Day has in Scripture. I do not think that any person who reads Scripture carefully can fail to discover the place God gives it. It was on the first day of the week that Mary of Bethany anointed the Lord (John 12:3). The Lord appeared to His gathered disciples on two occasions, and each time it was on the first day of the week (John 20:19-26). It was on the first day of the week that the Holy Ghost descended at Pentecost, and formed the Church (Lev. 23:17; Acts 1-4). It was on the first day of the week “the disciples came together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). Again we read in Revelation that John says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day" (chap. 1:10), and this term—the Lord's Day—the Spirit of God fastens on the first day of the week.
I need scarcely remind you that many speak of the Lord's Day as the Sabbath. That is not the language of Scripture. We ought to be intelligent and scriptural in our use of words. When Scripture speaks of the Sabbath it refers to the last day of the week. The Jew gave the Lord the seventh, the last day. The Christian gives the first day of the week to the Lord. And I should certainly claim for the Lord's Day a higher sanctity than the Jew does for the Sabbath. There ought to be' a dedication of that day to the Lord, and the Lord's interests only. Such, alas! is not always the case with the Lord's people now. Nor is the reason of this far to seek. If the saints habitually breathe a worldly atmosphere, it is not at all difficult for them to assimilate what is all round about, but I do not think it is to our credit or profit, beloved brethren. I say that little cautionary word in passing, because if the thin end of a wedge get into a log of wood, it may soon be riven asunder, and if our thought of the Lord's Day is borrowed from the world, certain loss ensues. It is the day we ought to devote to His interests in every possible way.
This was the day the Lord selected to meet His own, and we should thank God for such a privilege being accorded to us. It does not follow, of course, that the breaking of bread must precede everything else on that day, as some suppose. Clearly the breaking of bread was in the evening, in the Assembly at Ephesus (Acts 20:7). Whatever service to the Lord may have preceded that we are not told, but I do not surmise that the servants and saints of the Lord sat at home in idleness the previous part of the day. Not a bit of it. With us the gathering to break bread might be mid-day or early, but the point is this, the day is devoted to the Lord, and deeply thankful we ought to be to God for preserving to us, in the land in which we live, the Lord's Day in any measure of its scriptural character.
Let us now consider the interesting occasion when, for the second time, as He joins His own, the Lord says, “Peace be unto you." Mark what was to characterize the Assembly. It was peace. Again it is a meeting of the Assembly, and Thomas is with them. Again the first word is “Peace." He calls them into the blessed atmosphere of His own presence, and what does He breathe? Peace-that atmosphere of calm where God is known and enjoyed.
The Lord then addresses Thomas and says: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God" (vers. 27, 28). He is bowed in worship. He really becomes a worshipper at this moment. He had said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (ver. 25). This leads the Lord to add now, " Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed " (ver. 29). These blessed ones I understand to mean the individuals who compose the Church of God at the present moment, while the Lord is absent.
Thomas is here the figure of the Jews who will not believe in the Lord until they see Him. Scripture manifestly states in many places that by-and-by He will be seen. For example, “They shall look on him whom they pierced” (Zech. 1210; John 19:37). Again, “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30). Again, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him" (Rev. 1:7). We are among the blessed company who have received the testimony of God to Jesus, though we have not seen Him. But the Jew will not believe in Him until He come out by-and-by in manifest glory, and then Israel as a whole, wrought in by God undoubtedly, will bow down to Him. They will believe in Him, delight in Him, and confess Him as Thomas does here," My Lord and my God." Then will be fulfilled the scripture, " And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom. 11:26). Thomas, in this scene, is a figure unfolding to us the fact that those who have refused to believe, yea more, have rejected the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, will by-and-by be brought into His presence, and then they will own Him both Lord and God.
In connection with this second appearing recorded by John there is a little word added which is very interesting. "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But 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" (vers. 30 and 31). The person who now believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, has life through His name. The Spirit does not say here that you know you have life-that comes later; but it is interesting to observe that what has been written is put before us with this definite object, "That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." And what then is the effect? A person who really believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, that person gets life through His name. There is a communication of life by the sovereign grace of God.
When you come to the Epistle of John the Spirit goes a little further. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5: 13). It is not there the fact that you get life by believing in Him, but that you are to know that you have it. It is the present blessed portion of every soul that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ to know they possess, as a present thing, eternal life. I do not say that all such are in the full enjoyment of it. But they are to know it. "He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John 5:12). Whether we have entered fully into it is another question altogether. It is of the last importance, however, for the soul to have the sense, “I have got it." There is not a saint on earth to-day that is in the full enjoyment of eternal life, but we shall be when we reach the spot where Christ is. But life is a wonderful thing, and to have it really in the power of the Holy Ghost is to dwell in that blessed sphere of affection and knowledge of the Father, and relationship with the Father, which Christ as the risen Man is now in.
Let us now pass on to the third time the Lord was interviewed in resurrection, as recorded by our evangelist, the remarkable scene of John 21 In the first we have seen the Church of God instructed. In the second we get the Jew believing and worshipping. The third scene undoubtedly gives us the future blessing of the Gentiles. It has been often said that this is a mysterious chapter. The remark is just, what it contains being an appendix to the Gospel. Under a figure God puts before us another future sphere, and scene, where Christ will be the spring and source of all blessing. He has not only blessed the Church, and is going to bless the Jew; but by-and-by all the Gentiles too will trust in Him. Out of the heathen nations He will draw by His sovereign grace, those who are now in darkness. It is a figure of the reign of the Lord when there will be deep, rich, full blessing for those who have now no link with Him whatever. They come in under the figure of the fish. Observe, when they brought the fish to shore, the net did not break. By-and-by when things are administered by Christ there will be no failure. What we have therefore in these three appearings is very simple. The Church, the Jew, and the Gentile, each blessed by Christ. That, beloved friends, I think is the dispensational teaching of these three scenes, Now I pass to the practical way in which the truth here presented applies to our own souls.
“After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed he himself" (ver. 1). The way in which the Spirit of God lays emphasis on this appearing of the Lord is to be noticed. “There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee" (the guileless man of the first chapter of John), "and the sons of Zebedee" (James and John), " and two other of his disciples" (ver. 2). Now how came these disciples down by the Sea of Tiberias. You know very well that the Sea of Tiberias is where they were born and bred. There it was that Zebedee the father of James and John carried on a large fishing business. When the Lord first called Andrew and Simon, and then called James and John, it says, “They left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him" (Mark 1:20). How came these disciples back again on this historic ground?
You will remember that the Lord had said to the Galilean women, “Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me" (Matt. 28:10). I have no doubt it was this commission, coupled with the message which the angel sent them through the same women, that caused them to be in the place where Jesus met them. They went down to Galilee and waited for Him to appear. Evidently He kept them waiting a little. What position do you and I occupy to-day? “Waiting for the coming of the Lord," you reply. True, and what happens in the meantime? We are being tested, as these seven were. Arrived on the scene of old associations, with the sparkling blue waters of the Sea of Galilee, and the old boats and nets in full view, while waiting for their Lord's appearing, the temptation was presented to them to fill up the time by going a-fishing. That which dominated us in our unconverted days is very apt to re-assert its influence if we are not on our watch.
So was it with the seven disciples here. Had not the Lord called them from fishing? Had He not gathered them round Himself, and said, “I will make you to become fishers of men"? (Mark 1:17). Some of you will say, “It was very natural that they should go fishing." Ah, things that you and I dropped in the first blush of affection for Christ, habits, ways, things we were full of, till Christ met us, are dangers we cannot afford to under-estimate, and, unless we are watchful and careful, depend upon it the day will come when we shall find ourselves confronted by them once more, and they will carry us off.
The case before us is a striking illustration of this principle. “Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee" (ver. 3). Peter was the ringleader in this expedition, and all the rest follow. It will only take one wilful saint to send a whole company wrong. Let one prominent person go astray, and all the rest will follow. Hence, in a certain sense, the influence we have on each other is a very serious thing. Most certainly it is a solemn thing if it be not right. I do not speak so much of our words as our ways. Because “actions speak louder than words," and a man's spirit is of far more importance than his communications. His general habits will impress others a great deal more than his words, because words are easily forgotten; but the general habit, the life of the person, is more far-reaching in its effect.
I say this because I feel the importance of it, and with a desire that our hearts might, by grace, be kept near the Lord. The person that is going on with the Lord will affect others for good, and the man who is not walking with the Lord, but is walking afar off, will affect others prejudicially. The “I go a-fishing" of Peter influenced the rest, who thought, if they did not say outright,” It will not be wrong for us if he goes." The more important the person who takes the lead, the wider is the effect of his action. Peter had a remarkable place of prominence among the disciples, hence the weightier was the effect for good or for evil, of his lead, on those around him.
And now we read that, “They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing" (ver. 3). It was history repeating itself over again. In the days spoken of in the fifth of Luke, when the Lord preached from Peter's boat, He said: “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing" (Luke 5:4, 5). Here it is the same. They take nothing. And, beloved friends, if we are not near the Lord, nothing is really caught. If we get away from Him, if we get on our own line, the line that suits ourselves and our natural inclinations, there will be nothing that is really for the Lord. And then there is disappointment.
"But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus " (ver. 4). A little bit of self-will always blinds the eye. A little bit of taking our own way and of departure from the known will of the Lord will certainly bring spiritual blindness. Why did not they know Him now? There He stood. The fact was this, He had bidden them go and wait for Him; but they took their own way, and went a-fishing instead, turning back to the old paths they had been called out of years before. They inclined to go on the road that presented itself as a temptation, instead of patiently waiting and watching for Him to appear to them, and consequently when He does appear, they do not know Him. There is a pregnant lesson for all saints in this.
"Then Jesus saith unto them, Children (or sirs), have ye any meat?” (ver. 5). Beautiful courtesy and deep interest in them are expressed in this question. I need not say that everything the Lord did and said was absolutely perfect, but the courteous way in which He spoke to them is flung into greater contrast by their reply. “They answered him, No" (ver. 5).
A cold, bare “No." Could anything be coarser? “But," you say, “they did not know Him." That is the sorrowful consideration for us. When we are away from Christ the real state of our hearts comes out, and often by our lips. They do not say, “No, Lord," nor even” No, sir," but a bare “No." God records this of purpose, depend upon it. A saint away from Christ, a saint at a distance from Christ, will indulge in a want of courtesy in his very language that will betray his real state. God has therefore recorded this for our learning, and our warning too, beloved friends.
But Jesus, blessed be His name, does not chide them. He says, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." His only thought was their blessing. “They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes" (ver. 6). In a moment by these words a revelation is made to one soul of the seven. “Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord." It was John. That man, usually so quick to learn, had till this moment his eye blinded like the rest; because even a very spiritual saint, if he let himself be dragged into ways that are not in keeping with the mind of the Lord, will lose his spirituality, and his keen perception of the truth. John, however, it is who said: “It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him (for he was naked), and did cast himself into the sea" (ver. 7). What led Peter to do that? I have no doubt it was the affection that was in his heart and real desire to get near the Lord. There was undoubtedly in that man a very true and tender attachment to the Person of the blessed Lord.
You may tell me that Peter was impulsive, and self-confident, and therefore he fell. I know it. But who has not fallen? Have you never fallen? Who would dare say so? But there was in Peter a very real and true attachment to the Lord. There had been manifestly something else—self-confidence but at the bottom of his heart there was deep affection for the Lord. The very fact of his flinging himself into the sea showed how completely, as far as the Lord was concerned, he was restored to Him. I do not believe that this chapter gives us Peter's restoration to the Lord. We saw on a previous occasion that when the two came back from Emmaus to the upper room, they were greeted by the words, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." The Lord evidently had met Simon before that during the day. What took place between the blessed Lord and that dear man at that time, God has, however, flung a veil over, and therefore no one can describe it.
And yet, although I could not describe it, I am pretty certain of what did take place between a Master so perfect in grace, so full of deep, true love, and His erring servant, now a penitent, broken-down man, who had learned by terribly bitter experience where his own self-confidence could carry him. Peter, I am sure, got again in his soul the sense: “I am loved by Him. Spite of all my sin, spite of all the shame I have brought on His name, there is nothing in His heart but love." You know the Lord had warned him and said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren " (Luke 22:31, 32). Notice, Satan sifted him just because he was wheat. Perhaps you have sometimes wondered whether there was any wheat there at all. If there were no wheat there would be no sifting. Satan never sifts mere chaff. It is because there was wheat, and that he was the subject of sovereign and divine grace, that the enemy sought to trip him up. And he will do the same with any of us, if there be not watchfulness and self-judgment.
Peter had said, “Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death" (Luke 22:33). All the rest of the disciples really said the same. We are told there what Peter said, as the words fell from his lips; but we read elsewhere, "Likewise also said they all" (Mark 14:31). Peter's fall was really at the moment when he boasted of what he would do. What followed was the legitimate outcome of his inward fall. Thereafter he denied the Lord, as you know, and then you remember "the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter" (Luke 22:61). What kind of a look was that? Not a look of scorn and reproach I am certain. It was a look that so broke Peter's heart, that "he went out and wept bitterly."
Who can tell all the agony of that man's soul, during the three days, till he met the Lord in resurrection? I am persuaded that what sustained him was his Lord's word," I have prayed for thee," and the look that Jesus gave him in the high priest's palace. Otherwise he would have done what Judas did, gone and hanged himself. There was only remorse in Judas, so he hanged himself. There was real repentance in Peter, I have no doubt, so true restoration of soul was effected when the Lord met him alone. When He restores He does it Himself. Restoration is this, you get back to Jesus in the deep sense of absolute forgiveness on His side, and then bask afresh in the warm beams of His unchanging love ; love that has missed you from His side ; love that will not give you up ; and love that, when you come back, makes you feel more fully than ever, how He delights to have you near Him. That is the love of Christ. It never changes and never varies. Well, therefore, may we sing as we often do—
“O Lord, Thy love's unbounded—
So sweet, so full, so free—
My soul is all transported,
Whene'er I think on Thee
Yet, Lord, alas what weakness
Within myself I find,
No infant's changing pleasure
Is like my wandering mind.
And yet Thy love's unchanging,
And doth recall my heart
To joy in all its brightness,
The peace its beams impart.
Still sweet 'tis to discover,
If clouds have dimmed my sight,
When passed, Eternal Lover,
Towards me, as e'er, Thou'rt bright."
When John said, “It is the Lord," Peter is deeply moved, and seeks to get near to Him. He does not, as elsewhere, wait for the Lord to say, "Come." It is not like another time on the same lake, where he said, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water" (Matt. 14:28). His action plainly says, “I know the Lord would like me to be near Him," and he gets near Him. The rest of the disciples come dragging the net of fishes. “As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread" (ver. 9). That must have touched Peter's conscience. He knew what had happened beside a fire of coals a few days before; how he had sat down beside the world's fire, got in beside the devil's servants, of course got soiled, and at last denied his Lord. Can I expect the Lord to support me if I am going on with the world's things? Clearly not. I think the old Scotch woman was right when she said regarding Peter, "He had nae business down among the devil's lackies." Of course he got tripped up and came down. Oh, young Christian, you and I will come down if we are not watchful. If we think we can traffic with the world, converse with the worldling, and sit scatheless by the world's fire, you may depend upon it we shall soon find out our mistake and come down also.
But perhaps you say, "I am afraid I shall fall." I will give you comfort. You will not fall to-day because you are afraid you will. It is the day you cease to fear, and the day you think you can walk, that is the day you will fall. Whoever says, “I have no fear of falling," has fallen already. What memories that fire woke up in Peter's heart, but it was the best "fire of coals” he ever saw, for by its warmth the Lord restored him publicly. This is where the Lord gives him a word before all his brethren, which reinstates him as a servant. He had had the Lord's Prayer for Him, been melted by His look, and now he is to have the Lord's word. It is the Lord's word that puts that man right before everybody, because he had failed publicly, and now in the presence of the company he has to be restored.
We then read: “Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord" (ver. 12). I think they would have liked to ask. At the same time they did not care to do it. “Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead" (ver. 14). This was the third time according to John, but as we have before seen it was the seventh time in all; and if seven denote spiritual perfection, we have its full meaning here in the lovely way in which the blessed Lord deals with His dear servant and perfectly restores him.
"So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" (ver. 15). The moment the Lord seized for this question appears to carry a great lesson for us. Supposing a brother gets astray, and backslides a little, do you know the way to restore him? Would you go and tell him he has slipped away? That will not do him much good. Very likely if you were to say to him, “Brother, come and have a cup of tea with me," and then talk to him about the Lord, that would help him. What had the seven disciples been up till now? Cold and hungry; out all night they had caught nothing, and were disappointed. What does the Lord do? He says, “Come and dine." They get both warmth and food. Do you know a spiritually cold and, consequently, hungry brother? Feed him, warm him up. Give him food, spiritually I mean. The great thing for you and me to do is to warm him. He wants cherishing and nourishing, warmth and food. It is always thus put in Scripture. “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church" (Eph. 5:29). What is the nourishing? Food. What is the cherishing? Warmth.
Beloved friends, I am quite sure if we took this way, the Lord's way, with a saint that has got a little aside, we should do real shepherd-work. You try and get such to your house, give them a nice cup of tea, and then speak about the Lord, and you will be able to help such, minister to their soul-need, recover, and restore them. It is a great thing to be able to restore a person, and the way in which Peter is here restored is very touching. I am fully persuaded that this story, as related by John, is given with deep design of God for our instruction, and the profit of others.
And now let us note the Lord's way of dealing with Peter. You will find there are three questions and three answers, and they each differ. First of all He says, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" That is, I apprehend, did he love Jesus more than all the rest of the disciples. Peter had once said, "Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended" (Matt. 26:33). His answer here is, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." But the word Peter uses for love, in each of his replies, is a little different from the Lord's. It is, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I am attached to thee." To this the Lord rejoins, giving him a special commission, “Feed my lambs" (ver. 15).
“He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I am attached to thee. He saith unto him, Shepherd my sheep" (ver. 16). The meaning of this wider commission is surely, “Peter, I trust you to now care for those I love; I put confidence in you." “He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, art thou attached to me?" He does not use the same word for love the third time that He does the first and second. He adopts Peter's word, “I am attached." He does not say that he was not attached to Him, nor does He chide him. What He does do is this, He puts His finger upon the spring of self-confidence in his soul. “Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Art thou attached to me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I am attached to thee."
Peter, so to speak, now opens the doors of his heart to let his Lord look right in. It would indeed need special perception to see that there was love there. Others might have thought there was no love there at all. How could that man love the Savior whom he denied thrice? Was he not a hypocrite? No, he was not. I tell you what he was. He was a man, who at the bottom of his heart loved the Lord; but then he got loose in his ways, and careless with his lips, as the fruit of self-confidence, and that was the secret of his tremendous downfall, and threefold denial of his Master. The Lord's thrice-repeated query touched the springs of his soul absolutely, and, grieved and utterly ploughed up, Peter is fain to say, “Lord, thou knowest all things." Thou canst read my heart, Thou knowest what all others might well doubt, and nobody else knows that, “I am attached to thee." What is the Lord's answer? “Feed my sheep" (ver. 17).
Here, in plain language, you have Peter restored in the most beautiful way publicly. Restoration of a brother publicly is, alas! a very rare thing in this day. How beautifully the Lord put this man right first with Himself, and then with his brethren. There is one thing the Lord greatly desires for each of us, that we should be right with Himself and also with our brethren. So in the presence of them all, He manifestly says, " I trust that man absolutely, for I put into his hands the objects of My tenderest love and solicitude—My lambs and My sheep to feed by his ministry." By the threefold commission here given to His servant, the Lord shows how profoundly He can trust him. When Peter trusted himself he failed. When he had the springs of self-confidence broken, that was the moment Christ could trust him. And here in the presence of his brethren he is beautifully and publicly restored to the Lord's confidence.
I have little doubt that when Peter broke down and denied his Lord, there was a good bit of talk among the ten. “How we have been disgraced," very likely fell from their lips, as it falls from ours, if one of the company we are walking with dishonors the Lord's name. Perhaps Peter thought, and they too, that he would never get his head above water again. But now the Lord's rich grace gives him a place of perfect confidence as He puts His sheep into his care. And when you come to the second of the Acts, you will find the Lord giving him a wonderful place. Really the breaking of him was the making of him. If you carefully read his epistles you will find constant allusions, tacit and open, to his fall.
He manifestly desired that Christ's lambs and sheep should go on rightly, and ever have himself as a beacon. In one epistle he says, "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:5). In the next he urges the importance of adding to our faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Five times he alludes to these seven moral qualities, and says, “If ye do these things, ye shall never fall" (2 Peter 1:5-15). He always had the remembrance of his fall in his soul. The man who has fallen and been put right by God, is just the very one that can help those who may be getting a little bit astray. Men say, “Never trust a horse that has been down and broken his knees." That is well enough for horses, but not for saints. The one who has fallen, and got thoroughly broken and been restored, is just the one the Lord will trust and use. We are very slow to trust such again. I daresay all the ten said, “We shall never be able to trust Brother Simon again." Christ says, “I will trust him with all that I have got on earth." Friends, that is Christ. That is the grace of Christ to a poor feeble saint such as Peter was in himself, and as you and I are in ourselves.
There is something exquisitely beautiful in what now follows these touching ministrations to Peter's soul. He had been afforded, when in the high priest's palace, a grand opportunity of being faithful to the Lord and had missed it. Here the Lord promises him another chance. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not" (ver. 18). I have little doubt that as Peter looked back on his bygone pathway his soul was consumed with agony, for he felt, “I missed the finest chance of being true to the Lord that ever was." And not unlikely he also said, "I shall never get another." His Lord, as it were, says to him: “Yes, you will, Peter. When that day comes I shall give you grace, Simon, to glorify Me in the very spot of your failure." This is, to me, one of the most touching passages in all Scripture. The Lord assures him he shall have an opportunity where he failed and broke down of being true to Himself. “This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God."
Why did Peter say to the enemies of his Lord, “I know not this man of whom ye speak "? (Mark 14:71). To save his life. He then felt, “If I own Him, I shall die." And so to save his life he denied Him. “Now," says Christ, “you shall get another opportunity of glorifying God." “And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me" (ver. 19). This was His final command. “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and, said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?" (vers. 20, 21). Observe that John is seen here doing what Peter was instructed to do, “Follow me." In the query, " Lord, and what shall this man do?" Peter's old nature asserts itself. The Lord's answer amounts to this: "You mind your own business, Peter." His actual words were: “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me " (ver. 22). Similarly it is not a question with you what I shall do, nor is it my business what you shall do. What have I to do? Follow the Lord. The saint who has his eye upon the Lord, and is following the Lord, will be sustained by the Lord.
But the meaning of this scripture is important. “Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that this disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” The meaning of the Lord's words I understand to be as follows. As to his ministry John goes on to the return of the blessed Lord. This is what you get in his latest writings—the Book of Revelation. He carries you on to that epoch, and thus tarries till Jesus comes again. The Lord give us grace to follow Him more simply and more faithfully than ever till He come.
Address 6: Galilee and Bethany
(Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:9-11) LUK 24:44-53; ACT 1:9-11
You will remember that on a previous occasion I stated that when He rose from the dead the Lord was interviewed on eleven occasions. Seven of these we have already considered the five times He was seen on the first day, by Mary, the women of Galilee, Peter, those who went to Emmaus, and by the company in the upper room without Thomas. Then a week later He appeared to them when gathered together, Thomas being present, and afterwards to seven of the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
But there were more than these—for in 1 Corinthians 15 the Holy Ghost records some occasions which you do not get in the Gospels. Among these we read, “After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once" (ver. 5). The question arises whether this apparition coincides with that recorded in Matt. 28:16. The Lord had said to the women, "Go tell my brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me " (ver. 10). The message was not to “the apostles” but to “my brethren," and it suggests itself to my mind that this invitation gathered a good many together. It was not merely that the apostles were to go and see Him there, but the brethren. Affection for Christ will always carry the true heart to the spot where He is, and He cares for nothing else. We set much store by intelligence, because it makes something of us. We are told not to be " unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is," but depend upon it that it is affection He values.
Concerning the apostles we read, “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them" (ver. 16). The eleven evidently obeyed His word, but the five hundred, if they saw Him at this moment, reaped the reward of affection. "And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted” (ver. 17). The doubt mentioned here may be the reason for this appearing being omitted in 1 Corinthians 15, as are all other occasions concerning which any unbelief as to the truth of the apparition was evidenced at the moment of its narration. On the other hand, the fact just stated as to the studied elimination by Paul of all occasions where doubt was flung on the truth of the Lord having been seen, lends weight to the thought that we must not identify the appearing to the "eleven " and the " five hundred," since the latter are cited as irrefragable testimonies, while the former was not mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. The fact that some then doubted might invalidate their witness. Anyway they are not cited. I should therefore incline to think that the appearing to the five hundred was on a separate occasion, and possibly the ninth.
“After that he was seen of James" (1 Cor. 15:7), is the brief and only account we have of this appearing. It would seem to be the tenth. Over what took place on these two appearings God has flung a veil. The five hundred saw the Lord, and so many witnesses could not be mistaken; their testimony was thus invaluable from Paul's point of view. The position which James held afterwards in the Church has led to the thought that he may have at this moment received instructions from the Lord which, later, were of value to His saints.
What the Lord said to the eleven is of great interest, and full of comfort to us. While addressed to them, His words are of immense value to us, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (ver. 18). If we got hold of this immense truth, we should not be so poverty-stricken spiritually as we often are. This sad condition obtains oftentimes just because we have not realized that He has all power, and it is at the disposal of faith and affection. The commission to teach and baptize all nations doubtless had special reference to the apostles, but His closing words here, "And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world " (ver. 20), have carried with them deepest comfort and support to all His own from that day to this. Well indeed may we rest upon them in simple faith. The hope of our hearts is to be with Him. Meantime what sustains these hearts? He says, “I am with you." The Lord is coming back to take us to be where He is, but till then He is with us. Matthew's Gospel closes by showing us the Lord in the midst of His people, saying, " I am with you alway," i.e., He remains here.
Now turn to Mark, and see the way in which that Gospel closes. "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (16:5). Notice how His heart desired that what His own disciples enjoyed should be enjoyed by others. I know very well that some may say, Was not this apostolic? Yes, primarily, but He was talking to His people, and I believe the spirit of the words is to be abiding. Again, someone may say, This is not the day in which God is working among the heathen. See how Mark opens, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1:1). Where and when would you expect these glad tidings to be promulgated? Surely everywhere and at all times, and in connection with this look at chapter 13. There is a very striking word there. The Lord is telling His disciples what sorrow is coming to Israel, and then adds, " And the gospel must first be published among all nations" (ver. 10). But probably you will say, Does not that mean the gospel of the kingdom? If you will go back to Matt. 24, you will read these words, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (ver. 14). Now Matt. 24 is not Mark 13 While Matt. 24 tells us that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached as a witness to all nations before Messiah again comes, what we have in Mark's Gospel is this, there is never to be a moment during His absence in which His disciples are not to be busy carrying forth the gospel. The thought of the Lord recorded by Mark appears to me to be quite different from that recorded by Matthew. The latter is a widespread testimony, given largely by the Jew, I gather from Scripture, that will go out, by-and-by, to every nation as a witness that He is just about to return, but, as presented in Mark's Gospel, it is what He desires, and what the Spirit of God has led to in this our day. Devoted men and women have gone and are going out, with their lives in their hands, to carry the glad tidings of His grace to those who have never heard them.
Servants of Christ are to-day telling needy, weary souls nearly everywhere of the Son of God, and from my heart I say, “Lord, sustain, cheer, help, and bless them." I am deeply thankful for any who, at great personal risk, and with real devotedness of heart to the Lord, have gone to tell weary souls in heathen darkness of the glory of the Person and the value of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is easy for others less devoted to stay at home and criticize their work. The day of the Lord will show which path. He esteems the better. The commission of Mark 16 is very plain: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Coupled with believing is the honest confession of His name, and that takes the character of baptism-putting on the name of the Lord in that way. Doubtless this commission was primarily apostolic, but who would dare say it ceased at their death.
The Gospel of Mark closes as you would expect it to. The toil of the true servant is rewarded. “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God “(ver. 19). Now look at the difference-He is not seen remaining here upon earth, as in Matthew, He is at the right hand of God-all power is in His hands, and He gives us the grace and cheer of His presence as we pass along here. All power is in the hands of the Anointed Man at God's right hand, upon whom our eyes should be fixed steadfastly. “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them." Where do you and I preach? There is a great lesson in this, and we may take great encouragement. If the Lord bids you go forth with His Word, and you are simple in following His guidance and leading, you will find the Lord working with you as He did with them then. Christ reigning at the right hand of God and working with His own on earth is the close of Mark's Gospel. Matthew's Gospel closes with Christ remaining on earth, Mark's with His reigning in heaven, Luke's with His retiring from earth, and John's with His returning to earth.
Now turn to Luke 24. One charm of this chapter is that it gives us the last occasion on which the blessed Lord was with His people here. If we had only this Gospel, as I have before said, we should think the contents of this chapter happened on one day. Morally it is one day; it is the resurrection day, and has one particular character. One point to notice is the place the Scriptures have in it. “Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures “is recorded that day (ver. 45). He tells the disciples that “all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me" (ver. 44). I should like to press on you the importance of the Scriptures— of the Old Testament Scriptures. You can have no real value for God's things if you do not tenaciously hold all His Word. I have heard this part of God's Word spoken of very lightly. See the way the Lord Jesus speaks of and puts the stamp of His authority upon the whole of the Scriptures. When He walked with the two to Emmaus, we have already seen how “he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (ver. 27). What a wonderful two hours' walk that must have been. What must it have been to hear Him open up the Scriptures about Himself—what an unfolding of type, figure, and shadow—what a never-to-be-forgotten moment.
Now observe, why, when together with His own, He opens the Scriptures, and also opens their understanding. They had not yet received the Holy Ghost, but we have, so the Lord expects a Christian to have his understanding opened. Why oftentimes do we not understand? There has something come in which hinders our souls being taught of Christ. But they were to be sweetly taught of the Lord, and the whole company, apostles and others, as we have seen, get a cheering commission, as He says to them, " Thus it is written, and thus it behoved 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."
Observe that the commission was to preach to “all nations," as recorded by Matthew and Luke, and to “all the world “as given in Mark. That is wide enough. It is the individual servant who is responsible to carry out the commission. He does not exactly say “Go" to the Church, because the Church does not teach or preach-the Church is taught, and preached to. It is to the individual, because ministry is the exercise of the gift given to the individual by Christ. He communicates that gift, and He alone should direct its use. He holds the stars in His right hand, in Rev. 2:1, for they belong to Him, and Him only, hence the possessor of any gift is responsible only to the Lord for its exercise.
Further, notice that repentance and remission of sins were to be proclaimed, "beginning at Jerusalem." Jerusalem was the worst spot—the place where He was murdered. Observe also to whom He says, “And ye are witnesses of these things." It was not only the eleven who were there when the Lord came into their midst, hence it was not an apostolic company. It is good to remember this, and Scripture is very clear as to it. “And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them" (ver. 33). The apostles were there, but the brethren were there, and the sisters also I judge. The two from Emmaus joined them, and then to the assembled company the Lord comes and communicates His mind, saying finally, "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 " (ver. 49). They had to wait for the coming of the Holy Ghost. We have not to wait now, for from the Anointed Man in glory the Holy Ghost has come, and with Him has come power for all that we are called upon to be and to do as children of God, and servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without doubt the Holy Ghost is often grieved in us by the allowance of the flesh, and the outflow of the “rivers of living water” of which Christ spoke (John 7:38), is checked or hindered.
What is the reason of this? I read lately of a town that was supplied with lovely water from a large lake in a mountain, but one day the water stopped. Men went to look if the lake were dry, but found that it was all right, the source was unchanged. Then an anonymous letter was received directing attention to a plug having been put in the supply pipe. That was keeping back the water, and when it was removed the water flowed on as before. Don't you think sometimes a plug gets into our supply pipe? Ask your own heart what is the plug that has got into your soul's history, and is hindering you from being a real living Christian carrying Christ everywhere, and being a source of blessing to everybody. I desire to ask myself a similar question. Let us take out the plug. My hand cannot take your plug out; we have to get before the Lord individually that He might remove whatever is hindering the inflow of the living water. “Rivers of living water " are to flow through us to refresh and bless others. How little conception we have of the way the Lord would use us, as the channels of communication between Himself and needy souls! It is not a question so much of gift as of spiritual state. Too much is often made of a man with a gift, and saints are putting too much on the shoulders of those possessing gifts. It really is a question of individual devotedness to Christ, and of walking with an ungrieved Spirit. If that be our state, the Lord can use us, for grace is more important than gift.
The disciples were to wait till they were endued with power. We have not now to do so, for the Holy Ghost has come and dwells in every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all power, hence to speak now of a weak Christian is an anomaly. A powerless saint is a being that is not contemplated in Scripture. If you and I are filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, we shall not speak of weakness, we shall not speak of ourselves at all. We shall be filled with Christ, and out of us will flow the “living water," i.e., Christ will come out in our life and testimony, and others will thereby be affected and blessed.
Having given His disciples their commission and promised them the Spirit, Jesus led them out as far as Bethany. Why Bethany? Apparently that was a spot He loved. It was there that He had been received and cared for (Luke 10:38). It was there that Mary sat at His feet and heard His word, and there, when He raised Lazarus, it was the place where His glory was demonstrated as Son of God (John 11:4-40). It was there they made Him a feast, and Mary anointed His feet (John 12:1-3). It was from thence He went to Jerusalem to receive the kingdom and the crown, if His people would give it Him, but they would not, and He went back to Bethany (Mark 11:1-11). It was the spot where He was really appreciated, and where there were hearts that truly loved Him, and He cared for their affection.
Do you think He has changed since then? Do you think He is in anywise different? Where He sits at God's right hand, do you think He is indifferent to the beating of your heart and mine? I trove not. In Acts 1 the angel speaks of Him as “this same Jesus." Where was He yesterday? At Bethany. Where is He to-day? At the Father's right hand. Where will He be to-morrow? Back to Bethany (see Acts 1:11; Zech. 14:4). What will He then again find? Hearts that appreciate Him. He came to earth by Bethlehem to fulfill Scripture. He went from it to heaven by Bethany, where He had been prized and loved, and where they had made much of Him.
This is the last time He had His own together round Him upon earth, and then it was that “he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." He goes up with His hands uplifted in blessing—in a priestly character. In Mark He goes up as a faithful Servant whom God honors; but in Luke, it seems to me, He goes up in a priestly character, His hands uplifted in blessing. Have they ever been let down? Surely not. We read that in the battle between Israel and Amalek: "It came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side: and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek" (Ex. 17:1-13). No Aaron and Hur are needed to hold up the hands of the blessed One of whom I speak. His hands have never got heavy. He has been blessing ever since-carrying on a ministry of love that makes the heart dance with joy.
Our hands hang down sometimes; hence we are told, “Lift up the hands which hang down” (Heb. 12:12). Why do our hands hang down? Because our eyes are not fixed simply on Him. The source of maintained power is Christ. Well said another, “THE SECRET OF PEACE WITHIN, AND POWER WITHOUT, IS TO BE ALWAYS AND ONLY OCCUPIED WITH CHRIST." These words I would give you as a motto for life.
Luke's Gospel closes with a worship meeting, fit ending to the wondrous “forty days " we have been considering.” They worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God" (vers. 52, 53). This is as it should be. Luke's is emphatically a Gospel of joy; there is a great deal about it all through. It begins, continues, and closes with joy (see 1:14, 44, 2: 10; 10:17, 15:7, 10, 23; 24:41, 52). You show me a joyless Christian, and I will certainly show you a weak one. Possibly you will say, You do not know my circumstances. True, but the blessed One who has gone on high knows all about your circumstances and mine too, and the Spirit of God has said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10). We need to dip our feet in oil, like Asher, we should then be acceptable to our brethren, and should also prove, “And as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:24, 25). Joy and strength go together always. We should cultivate the spirit of the scene before us. The Lord was blessing His own, and they are seen one moment praising Him, and then going back to their homes full of joy. Was not that grateful to the Lord? How it should stir up our souls to seek to be like them in our walk and ways down here.
We hear a little more of this touching incident in the Acts of the Apostles. There we read: “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven " (Acts 1:9-11). Notice here that they looked STEADFASTLY; in chapter 2:42 they continued STEADFASTLY; and in chapter 7:55 Stephen looked up STEADFASTLY into heaven. It is a great thing to be steadfast; we are often vacillating, and hence there is no power. But they hear blessed news as they steadfastly look up. This same Jesus was to come back in power in the clouds of heaven. The angels say, You have seen Him go up, but you will see Him come back here. He is going to establish all the thoughts and purposes of God in relation to earth.
But before that takes place there is something for you and me, dear fellow-believer. He is coming to take us to the spot where He is Himself. I do not think that we should view the hope of the Church, i.e., the coming of the Lord for us, as given in Thessalonians 4:15-17, as that which will merely take us out of the scene of difficulty. We should desire to live here for the Lord. It is a blessed thing to go on, and it is a serious thing to be cut off in the midst of your days.
Dear friends, are you weary of the road? You want and you may get the power and grace of heaven to uphold and strengthen you in the spot where you are. Paul could say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). Christ was his competency in every trial. He had a desire to depart and be with Christ, but knew that it was better for them that he should remain, and help others, and so remained (Phil. 1:23, 24).
But the blessed Lord is coming for us, and in the He wants our hearts to be kept in the meantime H His love, and, in true affection for Himself, waiting for His coming back into the world, out of which He has been cast, but where yet He will get His rights, and His name be honored from pole to pole, and His name be the theme of every tongue. But, before that day, He is coming to take His Church to be with Himself in the spot where love reigns.
It will be a very blessed moment when that occurs.