WHAT I would desire to note here, is the attitude that is taken up by these men, and indeed by all the disciples, on the departure of the Lord to heaven. It was a complete change to them naturally. He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight-He was no longer an object of sight; and that is a matter of great importance to the soul to note. You see, they steadfastly look toward heaven; that is to say, they looked towards the place that Jesus had gone to, and, in spirit, that is the attitude abidingly; still, it was with their natural sight, and then they have an angelic communication. We may say that is the last communication they had as earthly people. Angelic communications are made to those who belong to the earth; angelic communications are not what we have now, but spiritual communications through the word. We do not look for angelic communications; we may have angelic communications, of course-God sent an angel to Peter, but the attitude of the church upon earth is not much under the principle of angelic communications, if at all. It is when the church is viewed as having failed we find angelic and prophetic communications, and this we see in other scriptures, as in the book of Revelation.
However, this angelic communication was to stop their gaze up to heaven with the natural eye, and the angel addresses them, too, as those outside Israel, those outside the natural order of Israel; he addresses them as Galileans: Galilee was a place of no esteem in Israel-a despised people. " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" He who was gone would come as He went, and so they were to wait. That put them into another position altogether, and we must bear in mind that the Holy Ghost had not yet been given. Still, it is a very important attitude, because they had been carried on to the end of the one thing, and had not yet been introduced into the other; and what could they do? It is the history of a soul at the present time, or should be, if God has been pleased to convert it, it waits on Him for the next step-yet how few do!
The soul must have a lodgment somewhere; they had that instinct, which is very blessed-we will wait till we see what is next to be done; and they had to wait till they had the power, so to speak, and that came at Pentecost. This angelic communication seals the past, the book is shut, they had no more of it, and then they did. the right thing-they returned to Jerusalem, abode apart, by themselves, and waited. That is a lesson to us from those who we suppose were not so wise as we are (because the Holy Ghost, remember, was not yet given). Till they had got notice of the next move, they were not going to move themselves. We are slow to learn this line of things; if we leave the next move to God always, we are sure to be right; if we move on our own account, we are sure to go wrong. There is a remarkable thing as to this, too: they abode together. They are all mentioned individually by name, they were all there but Judas, and the women also-a wonderful company. It is well for us to note it, and to meditate on it-there is not one left out
There is, in contrast with that, another company, in John 20 they were gathered together, but one of them is absent. They were in the same spirit and attitude, but the Lord had not ascended, He was on the earth, but not as before His death. To them He spoke those wonderful words, which abide, with all their weightiness, to this day: " Peace unto you;" and He skews them the ground of peace-the wounds that He will bear throughout eternity, the wounds wherewith He was wounded in the house of His friends-the wounds that mark the ground of that peace. But it is His own personal presence that arrests them: " Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." It does not say, Then were the disciples glad when they saw the wounds, but they were glad when they saw Himself-it was gladness from the effect of His presence!'
It is not so much the intelligence, as the affections, that are in exercise; not so much even the peace-blessed as that is-but it is the enjoyment of the actual presence of the One they knew and loved, and, what was more, who loved them. There He was, and that is what satisfied them. But even this gathering, blessed as it was, was marked by an absent one-Thomas was not there.
How very sad! Very sad indeed that there is such a thing in a gathering of disciples, and that it should be characterized by an absent one, or an absentee. Such is the failure, of the church; man has ruined it, and the sense that remains upon the soul, when there is a gathering of saints, is, there are absent ones. It was so at that very first gathering; there was the absent Thomas; and it is so, now; and Thomas had to realize afterward what that absence was. There had been disciples gathered together, but he was not there; and we get the unbelieving mind, with its consequences. Here, in Acts 1, there was no absent one, except Judas-he naturally could not be there. We have a gathering here, but not so much from the intelligence of the truth the Holy Ghost gives, as from the affections of their heart for Christ. Just the heart-it says, I cannot go into anything, because of the absence of the Lord. They could do nothing, they were not settled. If I am unsettled, is it because I have no expectations except the return of the Lord? That is what keeps us from settling down here. We are waiting our Lord's return; the sleeping saints are waiting-all the dead in Christ-I must take them in, in spirit; when the Lord comes, all will be present then-not only all those that are on the earth, but all that are in the graves-the dead in Christ; it will not be till then, therefore we must be satisfied to wait together.
In the next chapter this attitude is responded to so far, that the Holy Ghost comes down, and that starts them in a new thing; if it had not been for that, where would they have been eventually? Scattered here, there, and everywhere, no doubt. But we find them all gathered together with one accord, and in one place, on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Ghost descends upon them all, upon each of them, besides filling the house.
At the end of the chapter (Acts 2) we get again what we have in the first chapter, but now in the power of the Holy Ghost. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, &c. (and there is no other doctrine, and no other fellowship), and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer. It did not spoil the sense of His coming; when God comes in, and there is another step forward, it does not alter the first attitude, but confirms it. They had the Holy Ghost, they continued in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer. This is where we are at the present day. This abides, and nothing else-there is no other fellowship corporately. May the Lord, in His grace, press this upon our souls; that we may use our endeavors not to come short of it for our own comfort and blessing, for His name's sake. W. F. B.
THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. THE GOSPEL BY MATTHEW.
40. MATTHEW-gift of God, son of Alpheus (not the Alpheus of chapter 10. 3). The sovereign grace of God is conspicuous in the call of Matthew to the apostolic office, as also in being the Holy Spirit's chosen penman in the unfolding of the Messianic glories of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, the Savior of Israel, Immanuel and Jehovah. Matthew, previous to and at the moment of his " call," was engaged in an occupation justly abhorred by every orthodox Jew. He was a collector of the duties imposed by the Romans on the fisheries and merchandise crossing the sea of Galilee. Every tax levied on the conquered people and their goods was grudgingly paid, and the officers appointed for the purpose were classed with sinners and harlots. Matthew was not one of the favored three privileged to be with the Lord in the scene of death (Luke 8:51), in witnessing His glory on the " holy mount " (Matt. 17:1), or in the profound scene of His agony (Matt. 26:37.) He is not once mentioned in the Acts and Epistles. No saying of his is recorded-no direct word to the Lord, and the only incident in which his name specially figures is in the "great feast " which he provided in. his own house for a numerous company. (Luke 5:29.)
The object of the Gospel is to present the Lord in formal Jewish relationship according to Old Testament. prophecy. Thus we have more citations from and references to the former oracles of God in this Gospel (about 80), than will be found in the other Gospels collectively. There is a dignity and majesty about the discourses and parables recorded here yet, withal, a tinge of sadness pervades these truly magnificent, complete, and orderly series, for they were uttered by Israel's rejected Savior and Messiah. It is characteristically the Gospel of the kingdom, hence the frequent use of the expression " kingdom of heaven "-about 33 times only found here. The legal and royal genealogy of the Lord through Joseph is here traced from David (royalty) and. Abraham (promise), not as in Luke, where the civil genealogy through Mary is traced up to Adam.
DIVISIONS.
Chapters 1. and 3. Jesus by birth, genealogy, and scripture proved to be the Jehovah of Israel and King of the Jews. Chapter 3 John Baptist bears testimony to Christ as Jehovah, and God owns Him as His beloved Son. Chapter 4 Authority of Christ in overcoming Satan and in calling disciples. Chapters v.-vii. The Great Mountain Sermon, in which Christ fulfills and ex-. pounds the law and prophets, and reveals the Father's name and character. Chapters 8-7. Various dispensational displays of Christ from Jehovah to Son of man -rejected in these characters, He pronounces the judicial judgment of Israel. Chapter 13 Outer and inner history of the kingdom of heaven, consequent upon the rejection of Judah according to Isa. 6, which compare with Matt. 13:14. Chapter 14 Beautiful dispensational picture from the death of John Baptist till. the Lord's return in blessing to Israel. Chapter 15 The heart of man, and the heart and grace of God in contrast therewith. Chapter 16 The church and the kingdom; Christ builds the former, Peter administers the latter. Chapter 17 The Son of Man glorified and in suffering, instead of a reigning Messiah amongst the Jews. Chapters 18 -20. 16. Principles and truths of the kingdom. Chapters 20. 17-. 16. Christ's last journey to Jerusalem and final presentation to Israel. Chapters 21. 17- 22. 14. Israel judged according to her responsibility as the fig-tree and vineyard, as also by her rejection of the grace of God-the wedding of the King's Son. Chapters 22. 15-23. The chiefs of the nation and religious guides severally come up for judgment. Chapters 24-25. The Lord's great prophetic discourse. Chapters 26.-18. The closing hour of sorrow, death, and resurrection, but in keeping with the character of the Gospel throughout, no ascension to heaven: the Lord rejoins His disciples in Galilee, according to chapter 26. 32.
(Continued front page 236.)