Mat 28:1 I. A day of mighty memories; (1) of the creation of the world; (2) of the resurrection of Christ; (3) of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
II. A day of noble and happy associations; (1) historical; (2) congregational; (3) personal.
III. A day of holy hopes; (1) of a holier Sabbath; (2) of a holier sanctuary; (3) of a holier character.
IV: A day of solemn duties; (1) private; (2) domestic; (3) public.
G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons, p. 256.
References: Mat 28:1 .-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 197. Mat 28:1-10 .-Preacher's Monthly, vol. i., p. 298; H. R. Reynolds, Notes of the Christian Life, p. 242. Mat 28:2 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 863; S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 148. Mat 28:5 .-W. Harris, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 368.
Mat 28:6 The angel here appeals to the senses of those who stand about the tomb to attest the truth of Christ's actual resurrection from the dead.
I. The empty tomb at once proclaimed the actual resurrection of the Saviour. The Resurrection is proclaimed to be a fact-(1) by the testimony of human witnesses. The disciples were men of probity, and had no worldly advantage to acquire from the publication of such a circumstance, but quite the opposite. They had known Christ, surely, long enough to recognize Him again when He appeared amongst them; and with one concurrent voice they testify, "He is risen from the dead." (2) This is strengthened by the testimony of angels, and by their various appearances as bearers of the news. (3) The resurrection of Christ was not denied, even by His enemies, but was covertly recognized and admitted, even while the Jews agreed to a traditional falsehood to conceal from their posterity that which they knew to be a fact. (4) The Apostles constantly attested the fact, as also did the Fathers of the primitive Christian Church-Ignatius, Polycarp, and the other venerable custodians of the truth. (5) Christ rose, likewise, in precise accordance with Scriptural types and predictions, and with the same body as that in which He had lived and died.
II. The language of the text expresses the great humiliation of Jesus Christ. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
III. We cannot meditate beside the place where the Lord lay without learning something of the infinite love of God.
IV. Neither can we look upon His empty tomb without being convinced of the Divine faithfulness-faithfulness as to promises, types, shadows, and predictions.
V. This visit to the place where the Lord lay must bring with it, too, a striking evidence of His Divine sovereignty. "I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again." And if He thus held in His sovereign hand the issues and the destinies of His own career, He can, in like manner, overrule and control the destinies of His people.
VI. Is not this vacant tomb an almost satirical evidence of His triumph over His enemies and ours?
VII. Lastly, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," that you may behold in it the certain and the glorious pledge of a perfected salvation.
A. Mursell, Calls to the Cross, p. 286.
Mat 28:6 (with 1Co 15:44 )
The Resurrection from the Dead.
We still assert, in words, a literal resurrection of the body, but none of us believe it. Our hymns, our prayers, our epitaphs, and too often our sermons, imply that the dust of our bodies shall be reanimated in some far-off future, and joined to the waiting soul. At the same time, we know that science declares it to be impossible; our reason revolts from it; it is sustained by no analogy; it is an outworn and nearly discarded opinion. There is, however, a general feeling of perplexity in regard to it. The view now offered is substantially this: that the resurrection is from the dead, and not from the grave; that it takes place at death; that it is general in the sense of universal; that the spiritual body, or the basis of the spiritual body, already exists, and that this is the body that is raised up, God giving it such an outward form as pleaseth Him, and thus preserving that dualistic state essential to consciousness, if not to existence itself. Let us notice some considerations that render these views probable.
I. The butterfly gains its perfect form, not by assimilating the. worm, but by getting rid of it. It is the most beautiful analogy in nature, its very gospel upon the resurrection-at first a creeping thing, dull and earth-bound, a slight period of dormancy, and then a winged creature floating upon the air and feeding upon flowers, one life, yet possessing from the first the potency of two forms.
II. The entire significance and value of the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead centre in the fact that it sets forth human identity. The question now arises, in what does identity consist? Identity does not lie in matter, nor is it dependent upon matter. Man is not the matter that makes up the perpetual flux known as the human frame; he is nothing that the chemist can put test to. He must be something, not material, that endures, on which the shifting phenomena of animal life play themselves off. The body is not the man, and it is the man who is raised up. He goes into the other world simply unclothed of flesh, there to take on an environing body suited to his new conditions. As here we have a body adapted to gravitation, and time, and space, so doubtless it will be hereafter; the spirit will build about itself a body such as its new conditions demand.
T. T. Munger, The Freedom of Faith, p. 295.
References: Mat 28:6 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i., No. 18; vol. xviii., No. 1081; J. Keble, Sermons on Various Occasions, p. 523; D. Rose, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 321; G. W. McCree, Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 314; Preacher's Monthly, vol. ix., p. 214; vol. x., p. 117; J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. i., p. 313; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 562; Armitage, American Pulpit of the Day, vol. i., p. 251. Mat 28:7 .-S. A. Tipple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 24; H.W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xix., p. 52.
Mat 28:8 I. The false message which brought sin into the world, and all our woe, was given first to woman, and by her was communicated to the man. The Resurrection of the Lord, the healing of that early death-wound, was communicated in the same way. From an angel to woman, and from woman to man, and from man to the world came death. From an evil angel, through the link of woman to mankind, the evil tidings spread and covered the earth. From a good angel to woman, and from women to men, and from men to the world came life, the life of the world.
II. It is not much preaching we get from angels' lips; but there is a little here, and that little very precious. The commission he brought and laid on the two Marys was, "Go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead;" and in order to prepare them for obeying, he said first, "Fear not ye." The angel gave their spirits the cordial before he imposed the race upon their limbs. Besides exhorting them not to fear, he gave them ground to bear their joy: "The Lord is not here; He is risen." The angel knew his part well, for the whole theory of missions is here. To invite the messenger first near, that himself may know that the Lord is risen, and his own soul rejoice in the living Saviour-this it is that will qualify him for going quickly to bring word to the disciples, or to the world, of the Resurrection of Christ.
III. "They did run to bring the disciples word." It was the word within them that impelled them to hasten; it was the word in their heart that made them run with the word on their lips. I detect a grand key-note here. It is not only the message, carefully learned and correctly told; it is not only the faithful witness-bearing, whatever danger may be incurred. Over and above all this there are an eagerness, an enthusiasm, and a haste, in bearing the message of redemption, which are in keeping with the case, and mark the conduct of true disciples in all places and at all times. "The King's business requireth haste." This is strictly natural; it is a universal law. All great tidings travel quickly, whether they be glad or grievous. Here the tidings were very great; they were charged with life from the dead for the world; it was an instinct irrepressible in those who knew them to break into a run, in order to tell them soon to those whom they concerned.
W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, p. 157.
References: Mat 28:8-20 .-Preacher's Monthly, vol. i., p. 340. Mat 28:9 , Mat 28:10 .-Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 56; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 4th series, p. 105.
Mat 28:10 It is very probable that there: was some far deeper reason than we can now discover why Galilee should have been marked out to have, as it had, a special connection with the events of Eastertide.
I. The first thought which suggests itself is that Jerusalem, "the hill of Zion," which was once the "joy of the whole earth," and which the Lord Himself had loved, had rejected and crucified the Son of God, and in consequence of her apostasy was no longer the chosen home of God on earth. She was cast off, and her house was left unto her desolate. And in consequence thereof the risen Saviour was about to lead away His Apostles from the once holy city to the borders of the Gentiles, to whom the offer of salvation through Him was now to be made.
II. Why were the Apostles to meet their risen Lord in Galilee? Was it for the same cause that in Jerusalem He appeared only to the faithful few, and that, for the most part, when the doors were closed at night? Or was it for the totally opposite reason, that by fixing a set time, and the place where He was most known, He took the best course to set the fact of His resurrection beyond dispute? Or was it because He could best unfold the mysteries of His kingdom, and give His last instructions to His followers before He ascended to His Father, in a place of safety, in the quiet of the fields, or upon the sea, of Galilee? We cannot speak positively; but the lesson is that, not at once, not until some trial of faith and patient waiting had been gone through, was that privilege bestowed, of closest communion with the Master and His servants, of which Galilee was to be the scene. In proportion to our faith in Christ and love for Him shall we have need of patience too. The Apostles were constrained to wait, and so must we. They must go to Galilee, "and there," said the promise, "ye shall see Him." We must work our way to a better country, that is a heavenly; and thither, says the promise, "I go to prepare a place for you." Surely, what the thought of Galilee was to the Apostles is that of heaven to them that love the Lord Jesus-now the looked-for place of meeting, where the tears of past sorrows shall be dried, hope turned into fruition, love and knowledge perfected, and communion made "complete in Him." Scattered, like sheep which had fled from their shepherd, were the Apostles, till the mountain in Galilee was pointed out as the place where they with each other, and all with their Lord, were to meet once more. And so heaven is that better Galilee where they who are now dispersed and parted may meet again.
F. E. Paget, Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life, vol. i., p. 187.
Mat 28:11-15 The Chief Priests' Story.
This tale of the high priests', if it be good for anything, will bear the same cross-examination and analysis as others in the annals of important jurisprudence, and candour is compelled instantly to admit it labours under serious embarrassments.
I. In the very outset, the antecedent improbability of particulars crushes it. How came a trained watch all to go to sleep? Would the whole band of sixteen men be likely to fall away at once, and remain in slumber a time long enough for this amount of labour? This was noisy work, and took some numbers to do it, yet it would have to be done leisurely. Who folded up the napkin and arranged the grave-clothes in the dark? And if the Roman soldiers were asleep, how did they know anything about it?
II. The immediate followers of Jesus had no motive to steal the body of their Lord.
III. It is evident from the entire story, told here in its artless naturalness, that the disciples had no sort of concerted plan to do any such thing. Why, they had His body in their power after Joseph begged it on Friday evening; now was it possible that the idea should strike them to go and pilfer it away on Saturday?
IV. The Jews never told this tale to any judicial audience or court, so that it could be subjected to cross-examination. Stealing the body was a capital crime, yet not one of these accused disciples was ever arrested for its commission. To have proved this story of theft in the night would have overturned the entire Christian religion in one sweep. But after this first lie in Jerusalem the Sanhedrim preserved a discreet silence.
V. There was awful risk to the soldiers if this story was true, but if the story was not true there was no peril in it.
VI. The inherent impossibility of the act itself cannot be left out of sight. If there was one spot more than another likely to be under malevolent and curious scrutiny, it was that where the Nazarene Prophet was laid. Any suspicious movement would have been observed by a score of eyes.
VII. Then what could be done with the body after the disciples had got it in possession? In that land, where such strict regulations existed, where every one shunned contact because of a ceremonial uncleanness, how could those frightened Galileans have relieved themselves of a burden so awkward after they had passed the precincts of the garden? If discovered, what was there so fatal to their faith, as well as to themselves, as this half-buried body of the crucified Nazarene?
C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 100.
References: Mat 28:11-15 .-E. D. Solomon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 293. Mat 28:11-20 .-Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. iii., p. 276. Mat 28:16 .-A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 230. Mat 28:16 , Mat 28:17 .-A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 493.
Mat 28:16-20 (with 1Co 15:6 )
The question meets us today, as we think of the narrative of the text, How do we stand related to that assembly on the Galilean mountain, and to that last command of our adored Lord? The answer which I trust we shall all feel disposed to give is this, that we are related to that assembly just as though we had formed part of it, to that last command as though we had heard it in audible words from the lips of our Lord. That we may be confirmed in this conviction let us ask and answer some further questions.
I. Is the world's need any less now than it was then? Substantially, it is the same. It was great and urgent then; it is great and urgent now. "Go ye, therefore," into the busy world immediately around you, and into the wider world beyond, with the good news of God. Tell men that God loves them, that Christ "is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him." Such is the great commission, the most important ever entrusted to men. Note (1) its universality, (2) its intellectual character, (3) its gentleness.
II. Are the encouragements given to those who put themselves instantly in a way of obedience to this last command in any manner or degree less than they were at first or through the primitive ages? Christ's assertions regarding His power and presence were immediately put to the proof by His followers, and in no long time they were able to point rejoicingly to certain definite results, not only in the inward experiences, but in the lives and characters of men. The most marvellous changes took place, such as had never been obtained under any other teaching or influence whatever. In a state of society like ours, which has long been under more or less of the general Christian culture, we cannot expect to see many changes so visibly striking as those of early times. But those who will look below the surface of things will see that changes the same in essence are being produced, that the same sanctifying grace is still at work. When men go forth and teach the true Gospel in the spirit of love and loyalty, the Lord works with them, and confirms the word by signs following. It is a great work, so great that no other can be likened to it; all other good works are only parts of it. It will be a long and hard work, but it will be done. As surely as God is the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son, there will be "glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and goodwill toward men."
A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 230.
References: Mat 28:16 .-A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 383. Mat 28:16-20 .-B. F. Westcott, The Revelation of the Risen Lord, p. 155. Mat 28:17 .-J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 9th series, p. 167.
Mat 28:17 I. Doubting in matters of religion. Doubt arises (1) from ignorance; (2) some kinds of doubt mark the course of inquiry; (3) other kinds indicate moral perversity, and are allied to unbelief.
II. The practical influence of doubting in matters of religion. (1) It is no apology for indifference; (2) it ought to stimulate inquiry; (3) it contains an element of belief; (4) it may be an ultimate benefit.
G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons, p. 253
Mat 28:18 Our Lord's words here are full of Divine mystery; they possess heavenly massiveness and grandeur, and yet they are full of peace, consolation, and hope to every Christ-loving heart.
I. The words are majestic and gracious; they are also comprehensive in their simplicity and brevity. Here is the mystery of the mediatorial kingdom-Christ, the God-Man, Lord of heaven and earth, to the glory of the Father. All power is given unto Him in heaven. He who descended is the same that ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. The Son of man is on the throne of God, He who was born of the Virgin Mary, who took upon Himself the form of a servant, who by Himself purged our sins, who is at the right hand of the Father.
II. Jesus has all power in heaven, in order that the Church on earth should constantly and steadfastly look away from all that is human and temporal, and know of no other mediation, strength, guidance, and comfort but the power and love, the wisdom and faithfulness of her One only Master and Head. He is high, to be visible and accessible to the least of His disciples in the lowliest valley of his weakness and ignorance.
III. Behold Him, the Son of man, seated at the right hand of the Father, and in His majestic rest and peaceful dignity behold the perfect assurance of our acceptance and of our blessedness.
IV. Behold Jesus in heaven, and remember that in Him Divine omnipotence is united with the tender sympathy of perfect humanity. He was made like unto His brethren in all things, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest.
V. Behold Jesus in heaven, to bless His people. His intercession is all-prevailing. The Father Himself loveth us, according to the merciful assurance of Him who, as the true Mediator, always reveals and magnifies the Father. But it is in and through Christ that the love of the Father rests on believers.
VI. Behold Jesus in heaven, and seek the things which are above. In Him are all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. From Him descend all healthful influences, all spiritual gifts, all quickening and renewing power, all true and everlasting consolation.
VII. Behold Jesus in heaven, and be of good comfort. He presents unto the Father all the petitions and thanksgivings, all the labours and sufferings, all the words and works of His people, and they are accepted and well-pleasing in His sight.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 1.
References: Mat 28:7 .-S. A. Tipple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 24; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xix., p. 52.
Mat 28:18 The Omnipotence of Jesus on Earth.
The power of Jesus in heaven is revealed to us that we may know that to Him is also given all power on earth. He whom God hath highly exalted, who is the Lord of glory and the Prince of the kings of the earth, who is head over all things to the Church, and under Whose feet the Father hath put all things, rules and governs in silence and calm omnipotence, unknown and unrecognized by the world. All earthly events and historical movements, all triumphs of skill and knowledge, all discoveries of science and developments of human life are under His government and the power of his sceptre; all things are subservient to the great purpose of His death, and preparatory to His second Advent.
I. Jesus has power on earth to forgive sin. He who has entered into the Holy of Holies by His own blood is now before the Father, the advocate in righteousness of sinners who trust in Him. And He has power to forgive sin on earth, and the conscience is at peace, the heart that was heavy-laden is at rest. And Jesus exerts this power with tenderness, as gently as the light comes down from heaven, and as the dew falls on the flowers of earth. We look upon Him, and we are healed.
II. Jesus has power to renew the heart, Jesus only. It is His dying love that melts the heart. While the wintry and keen blasts of the law make us wrap the cloak of self-righteousness and opposition to God more firmly round us, the Sun of righteousness, the mercy of God, moves us to lay aside our pride, our sin, our hatred and forgetfulness of God.
III. Jesus has power on earth to quicken the dead. It is His Divine prerogative to give life. Who but God can kill and make alive again? Jesus is not merely a teacher or prophet; He is not a restorer of law. It is not instruction merely or principally that we need. The Lord came that we might have life, not by His doctrine, nor by His example, but by His death the erring, lost sheep were saved and brought into the fold of peace.
IV. All power is given unto Jesus on earth to keep His people in faith and love amidst all their temptations and afflictions, conflicts and struggles, giving them the victory over their enemies, and presenting them finally unblamable in body, soul, and spirit before the Father. The Good Shepherd, whose own the sheep are, by the election of the Father, by the self-sacrifice of His infinite love, by the indwelling and sealing of the Holy Ghost, keeps His people to the end. He guards them, and protects the new and tender life against the hostile and adverse influences by which it is surrounded. In heaven He is continually inteceding on our behalf, that our faith fail not; on earth He is continually shielding us with the power of His love, and keeping us by the influence of His Spirit.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 17.
References: Mat 28:18 .-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 100; G. T. Coster, Ibid., vol. xvi., p. 108; Preacher's Monthly, vol. ix., p. 143; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. vi., p. 276. Mat 28:18 , Mat 28:19 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 383; B. Bird, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 241. Mat 28:18-20 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1200; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 140; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 266; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 536.
Mat 28:19 The Trinal Unity of the Godhead.
Consider:-
I. The doctrine of the Trinity as it appears to have been part of the earliest revelations which were given to the world. Though not revealed distinctly and dogmatically, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is conveyed in the Old Testament by implication and inference. Thus, the very first sentence in the Book of Genesis runs, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." That which is implied, though it cannot be shown in the translation, is that while the Agent is plural in this passage, the verb with which it is connected is in the singular number. And this strange form of expression is used by Moses about five hundred times, when speaking of God, and it is so used by none else. And Jewish writers confess that this frequently recurring phrase is indicative of some mystery in the Divine Being, though they do not attempt to define its nature. But the Jews are not our only witnesses to the fact of this great doctrine being a part of God's earliest communications to the human family. The truth, in some disguised and distorted form, will be found to have entered into almost all the fabulous theologies of the world, and this the more distinctly the more remote their antiquity.
II. The doctrine of the Trinity forms the subject of controversy in the earliest ages of the Christian Church.
III. To the humble Christian this doctrine is embraced for the peace and salvation of his soul; to him the mystery of the doctrine is nothing; He asks only, Have I sufficient evidence of the fact? and he feels that he has. In all its searchless mystery the doctrine of Three Persons sharing equally and alike the attributes of underived and inherent Godhead, and yet these Three all One in nature, One in essence, One in purpose, and mind, and will, is the only doctrine which meets the necessities of our lapsed race, or provides for our being brought back to a state of innocence and peace.
D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3,138.
Mat 28:19 The Catholic and Spiritual Character of the Church.
I. Note the universality of this command of Christ-"all nations." When Jesus was on earth He did not go to all nations, but confined His ministry to Israel. It was according to the Divine purpose, according to the method of God's dealings with Israel and the nations, that Jesus should first go to His own people, preaching to them the Gospel of the kingdom, and endeavouring to gather them under the wings of His mercy and holy love. He was Israel's Messiah and King. The Angel of the Covenant came to His temple. But Israel itself was chosen in Him for the salvation of the world. And even during His earthly ministry in Israel, Jesus thought with joy and love of the Gentiles, who should come to the light and enter the fold of Divine peace. And now the time had come. The Gospel of salvation was to be preached to the whole world. The rejection of Israel's Messiah results in a twofold dispensation. In judgment the Jews are scattered among all the nations of the earth; in love and mercy, in blessing, the Church is sent to all peoples and tongues. The Bible, and the Bible only, teaches firmly and clearly the unity of the human race. (1) As we are the children of Adam, all human beings are equal, created in the image of God, forming one family of mankind, called to light, and holiness, and blessedness. As all truths, this great truth is confirmed and illustrated by the Lord Jesus Christ. (2) This equality is, alas, also an equality in sin and in condemnation! (3) The unity of the race is a blessed fact, when we remember that the Son of God became man. Unto the whole race Christ is sent; He is given unto man as man, a new Centre to the whole family of mankind.
II. The spiritual character of this commission-"teaching them." Men are to be taught. The Word is the sword of the Spirit. By the Word the heart is conquered, and the Word is the bread which nourishes and strengthens the soul. Thus it always was with God's people. There is no book like Scripture in which men are so constantly exhorted to think, to consider, to reason, to learn, to meditate, to remember. There is no book so opposed to all blind obedience and assumption of external authority. There is no book so opposed to the pride and selfishness of an esoteric school, keeping the people in subjection and partial ignorance. The Church is where the Word of God is. We need nothing else but the word, in order to be men of God, perfect, thoroughly "furnished unto all good works." And as the inward life and growth of the Church are by the Word, so are her extension and influence. The great commission of the Church is to preach the Gospel to the world.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 37.
Mat 28:19 Heathenism.
The text brings before us the subject of heathenism, and the relation of the Church of Christ to the heathen world. The words of our Lord are our authority as well as our encouragement for engaging in the great work of heathen missions. He Himself is the Sender. It is a work which is essential; it is, in one aspect, and if we take a wide enough view of its meaning, the work of the Christian Church.
I. With regard to the times of ignorance, there are three elements which modify the dense darkness which covers the earth. (1) There is the reminiscence of the primeval revelation. (2) The second element, which in some degree alleviates the great oppressiveness and gloom of men's ignorance, is that, as Sophocles expressed it, "there are the unwritten laws of Heaven in the hearts of men, which are not of today or yesterday, whose birth-tide is not known to any man." (3) The third element is this, that God, by the Holy Spirit, who bloweth where He listeth, had His work among the Gentile nations (Melchizedek, Job, the men of Nineveh).
II. We must not regard the judgments that are denounced in Scripture against heathenism and the nations that forget God as unjust and hard. Nothing in the Bible is harsh and severe. The light in which heathenism is revealed in Scripture, although it is truthful, is also affectionate. Whatever there is pure, and lovely, and ideal among the heathen nations, think not that it is our interest, or that it is the spirit of Christianity and Scripture, to ignore it or make little of it. God is the God of all, and there is nothing good or beautiful but it has its origin in God's Spirit.
III. When we think of heathenism we are overwhelmed and appalled. Think of its antiquity. Think of the extent of its territory. Think of the wonderful minds which have been captivated and enslaved by heathenism. Think of the evil of idolatry. Idolatry is not one evil; it is not a great evil; you cannot even call it the greatest evil: it is the evil; it is the mother of all evils; it is the root of all evil. Think of the wretchedness and misery of the heathen. It is a very superficial view of antiquity when people talk of the bright days of sunshine and joy in ancient Hellas. There were brightness and beauty; that people were gifted with a marvellous sense of the beautiful; but those who are well acquainted with antiquity know the deep-seated melancholy, the gloom, the cloud of darkness, which was only temporarily and superficially dispersed. Above all, let us remember the only antidote of idolatry; it is to "know God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent."
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 208.
References: Mat 28:19 .-J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, p. 343; Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 104; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 174; W. Cunningham, Sermons, p. 89; J. Oswald Dykes, Sermons, p. 128.
Mat 28:19 This passage has always been regarded by the Church of Christ as teaching most clearly the doctrine of the Trinity. "Name" is never used in Scripture in connection with abstract things or qualities, but always with persons. As the personality, so the Divinity, and consequently the equality of the Three are distinctly set forth; for the name of the Son and of the Spirit are coordinated with that of the Father; the same faith is demanded of us in regard to each of the Three Persons. The solemnity of the moment when these words were spoken by our Lord, the character of the ordinance with which He connects them, clearly prove that they contain the cardinal and fundamental doctrine on which all Christian teaching and life rest.
I. In this doctrine there is light for the mind. God dwelleth no longer in darkness, and in heights unattainable to the vision of human hearts. We see Jesus, the God-Man, and He reveals the Father and the Spirit. Jesus, by the name of God, reveals to us creation, for by Him, the Word of God, were all things made; and by the Spirit the Father's purpose and the mediation of the Son were actually accomplished in perfection and beauty. Jesus, by the name of God, reveals to us in eternity, not a lonely, quiescent God, such as neither mind can conceive nor affection grasp, but a God in whom from all eternity there was fulness of life, and love, and blessedness, the Father loving the Son, and the Spirit knowing the depths of the Godhead.
II. Here the conscience finds rest. Only in a Triune God are perfect atonement and reconciliation. He who brings us to the Father is the Son. The Church was purchased with the blood of Him who is God; and when Christ, by His own blood, entered into the Holy of Holies, we were represented by Him and complete in Him. The work of the Holy Ghost, also, is essential to our peace. Christ is ours only by the power of the Holy Ghost. Without the love of the Father, the atonement of the Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost the conscience may be soothed, but cannot be set at rest and purified.
III. And here, in the mystery of the Triune name, is love for the heart. It is only when we know the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that we know that God is Love; that love is not one of His attributes merely, but that He is Love from everlasting to everlasting; that from all eternity God, who lives, loves; that in Him-the one Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-are united in ever-blessed communion of love.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 67.
The name of God, the glory of the Old and of the New Covenant. In the Divine revelation to Israel, from Abraham to the Exodus, and from Moses to the last prophets, we can trace the following lines of education, which all converge in the Advent of the Lord Jesus, and in his full revelation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
I. Scripture teaches us that no man can see God, and Scripture speaks at the same time of God appearing. Israel knew God as Jehovah revealing Himself, the Messenger or Angel, sent by God and one with God, His Representative, face and image, in whom Divine glory was manifest, and to whom Divine adoration is due.
II. But while God came thus nigh unto them, He revealed the infinite distance which separated between Him and the sinful nation. Israel is sinful and guilty, yet God dwells among them. Israel hopes in the Lord, for with Him is plenteous redemption. For they knew that God, the holy and just Lawgiver, was also God the Redeemer. A just God and a Saviour, a holy God and a sanctifying Spirit, were manifested unto Israel, or, in other words, the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
III. These two lines of prophecy are combined, in the hope of Jehovah's rending the heavens, and coming down to redeem and glorify Israel. The coming of the Lord God is the theme of Psalms and Prophets. The invisible God manifests the Holy One among a forgiven and renewed people; such is the hope of Israel.
IV. We must combine with these passages an apparently opposite line of prediction. Its starting-point is not the throne of holiness, but the earth under a curse, and the woman, who was first in the transgression. This series of promises is familiar to all. The Seed, the Son, the David, the Servant, the Israel is the Redeemer, the Light of the nations, the Restorer and glory of His people. And as He is man, and born of the Virgin-daughter of Zion, He is also God. Israel was taught that the Son of David, the Messiah, was God manifest in the flesh, Revealer of the Father, the Lord who can baptize with the Holy Ghost. Does not the Messianic prophecy declare the name of the Triune God?
V. This mysterious God-Man is seen in heaven and coming down from heaven (Psa 110:1 ; Zec 12:10 ).
VI. The mystery of the Trinity is foreshadowed in the teaching of the Book of Proverbs. Who can fail to recognize the identity of the Wisdom spoken of in the Book of Proverbs, and the Word, who was in the beginning with God? Wisdom is set up from everlasting, brought forth; or as the Church expresses it, God of God, begotten, not made; beyond and above all creation; to be distinguished from God, and yet worshipped in the Godhead.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 89.
Mat 28:19-20 The Uniting Name.
I. A set of Galilean fishermen were bidden to teach or make disciples of all nations. In some way or other these Galileans did make disciples among Jews, the worshippers of the I AM, the Jehovah; among Greeks, the worshippers of human heroes and the forms of nature. Consider what was necessary to bring these two portions of the world into a common fellowship. Those words which He spoke as He stood on the mount, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth," were indeed most necessary before they could believe that power would descend on them to execute His command. Only if He had reconciled earth and heaven, only if He had conquered the visible as well as the invisible world, only if both were gathered up in Him, could they have the credentials or the inner might which were needed for heralds to the nations. "Go ye therefore," was the natural sequence to this assurance. But it was not enough. They were messengers from God to men, as he was who had seen the vision in the burning mount. They had as much necessity to ask as Moses had, "Behold, when we come unto them, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent us unto you, and they shall say to us, What is His name? what shall we say unto them?" The answer was given before the question had arisen, "Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
II. The name, the new and awful name, was proclaimed. But it was not merely proclaimed. The nations were not merely to be told, "It is this Being whom henceforth you are to worship; to this name the names of the Delphic Apollo and the Jove of the Capitol must bow." Go ye, it was said, and baptize all nations into this name. Speak not of it as if it stood aloof from them, as if it were afar off them. This mystery is about them, embracing them, sustaining them. The more we study this history, the more we shall be convinced that the preaching of this name and the baptism into this name were the mighty powers by which the divided worship, the demon worship of the old world was overthrown. And this because it was felt that there was one inclusive Truth revealed to mankind; a Truth which we cannot comprehend, but which comprehends us; a living Truth, which speaks itself out in a Person, not in a proposition; a Truth into which we must be received, and which will then go with us through life and death, meeting us in every new stage of our education, interpreting itself to us by our own individual trials, and by all the trials through which the world, or any section of it, is appointed to pass, bringing within its circle the sage and the little child.
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 33.
The Church and the World.
As Christ was sent by the Father, so is the Church sent by Christ. Jesus was sent to be the Revelation and Representative of the Father, to testify of Him, to declare Him, to do His will, and to finish His work. He was a true and faithful Witness; He was the perfect Servant, whose meat it was to do the Father's will; He declared the name of God, and finished the work. Now Christ sends us into the world that we may show forth His life, that we may be His witnesses, that His light and love may shine, attract, and bless men through us, that men may behold in us Christ, as they beheld the Father in Him. As Christ was, so are we in the world. The Church is in the world. The reason is threefold: (1) the glory of God; (2) that she may follow Jesus, who through suffering entered into glory; (3) to promote the conversion of sinners. "From the life of Jesus," said the old Germans, "we can learn all things;" we can learn Christ, and to know Him is to know all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Let us, then, continually study Him as the Model; we must represent Christ in our lives.
I. And first, let us remember the object of Christ's life. He was sent. He never forgot that He came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father that sent Him. Thus He was constantly the Servant of God, the Representative of the Father. Now we are sent by Jesus, and all that we are and have, all our words and works, are to be viewed in the light of mission and service.
II. Jesus came in lowliness. His birth, infancy, childhood, and youth are characterized by the emblems of poverty and obscure humility. What are we to learn from this? Are we not to follow the Master? We may not be poor, but we are to love poverty. We ought not to trust in earthly riches and honour, in the things which the world esteems and pursues; we ought to remember that our influence and our power are spiritual, and that the garment of the true Church is that of a servant, of a stranger and pilgrim.
III. Jesus was the Son of God; He came from above. Thus the Church is born of God, of incorruptible seed. Her life is none other than the life of Christ, the risen Head, the life of the Spirit, who dwelleth in us. We exert influence and power in the world simply by our being blameless and harmless, the sons of God, living Christ's life, manifesting the Divine nature, of which we are partakers who have escaped the corruption of the world through lust. In this lowliness and in this power the Church is able to go to the whole world with love and sympathy, announcing substance in the midst of emptiness and vain shadows, eternal life in the midst of death and sorrow, peace to the heavy-laden conscience, love to the aching and thirsting heart, forgiveness and renewal, health and joy, to the wounded and contrite.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 160.
The history of the Apostolic Church is the guide-book of the Church of every age. The Holy Ghost has not given us a record of the subsequent history of Christ's people, and we are convinced that the description of the Apostolic Church given to us by the Spirit is all that we need for our instruction and encouragement. What, then, were the characteristic features of the Apostolic Church?
I. We read that the Pentecostal congregation of Jerusalem continued steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Deeply rooted and grounded in the knowledge and love of Christ, they cast forth their roots as Lebanon, their branches spread extensively; there were continually added to their number true believers. The Church spreads when she is intense in her spiritual life; she spreads when she deepens; she expands by concentration.
II. We are told that the Church of Jerusalem was regarded by the people with awe and with favour. This shows that the Church manifested both the holiness and love of God.
III. The Apostolic Church was full of joy and peace in believing, by the power of the Holy Ghost. The reality of Apostolic faith explains their joyousness and their heavenly-mindedness. The Apostolic Christians believed, they trusted in Jesus; and they rejoiced in Him who was their loving Redeemer, and who was coming again to give them the kingdom.
IV. The Apostolic Church was the home of love. Jesus was their Centre. In Him they were one. Where Christ's Spirit is, there love dwells and reigns. Love rooted in the heart, strong, sweet, and tender; love in deed and in truth, manifesting itself in the words of consolation, counsel, and encouragement, all the deeds of help and self-sacrifice.
V. The Church of Christ in the Apostolic times was organized. While there is no intervening priesthood or mediation between earth and heaven, the Lord Jesus blesses, feeds, and rules the flock through the ministry of believers, chosen and set apart for this solemn work. The object of the ministry is the ingathering of souls, and the edifying of the Body of Christ. The permanence of the ministry comprises the whole dispensation. The existence of the ministry promotes and strengthens the unity and equality of believers.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 190.
References: Mat 28:19 , Mat 28:20 .-D. Thomas, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 198; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xix., pp. 79, 81; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India, p. 114.
Mat 28:20 The assurance was not given-it could not have been given with effect-until the Divine Speaker had certified His followers by many infallible proofs that it should be even as He said. Had the Ascension followed immediately upon the Resurrection-had there been no manifestation of the risen life of Christ to the Church, no drying of the Magdalen's tear, no satisfaction of the doubts of Thomas, no breaking bread with the friends at Emmaus, no meeting with the fishers by the shore of Tiberias-the promise would have failed of half its potency; the "Lo, I am with you," in that case, must have been, "Believe me, I shall be with you;" and though faith might have accepted the dogma of the Resurrection, love could hardly have appropriated the risen Christ. There are some art-creations which owe their influence upon us less to the beauty of detail than to the finishing-touch of the artist's hand. One streak of light on the canvas communicates to the whole an indefinable expression, which enthralls us as we gaze. Something analogous is the effect of the last touch added by the inspired penman in the text to the completed portrait of the Saviour's life. The image of Christ is felt to be no longer a thing external to us. Risen and ascended, He dwells in us, and we in Him. If the Church be indeed the body of her Lord, it must be that the principles of His life will be found to lie at the root of her own, and to contain within them, likewise, the promise and potency of the life to come.
I. We continually profess our belief in the Holy Catholic Church; what is it that we believe? The question is no simple one, for the Church, though one body, is diverse in function and in form, and men's thoughts vary widely in respect to the essentials of her life according as they are most attracted to this or that feature of the complex whole. The Church of Christ cannot be definitely measured by human language, any more than she can be compassed in her completeness by human eye. Men go about her, and think to tell her towers and mark her bulwarks, but her foundations are in the Rock which none may scan. Her limits extend beyond the bounds of space. She is no city of material build, but a polity of living spirits whose sustenance is derived from invisible sources. Her franchise is the heavenly citizenship. Her charter is hidden in the counsels of God. Let us, then, endeavour to forget the outward form she wears in this or that communion, and seek to rise to the height of those ideas of which she is designed to be the remembrancer. Briefly stated, her mission is this, "To declare a new fellowship among men, in consequence of the disclosure of a new relationship between man and God."
II. Christ came, it cannot be too often repeated, to reveal the Father. Not a man, but Man, the realization in One Person of all that man was created to be, so that while He represents us each to ourselves in idea as that which God would have us to be, His obedient children, He reveals God to us as that which He is in fact, a loving Father. From this revelation follows that of the universal brotherhood of man. These ideas are hidden in the bosom of the Church of Christ. To these she owes her catholicity. "Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more;" and in spite of all external divergence, in spite of priestly domination, in spite of the dogmatism of sects, the Church of Christ lives in the vitality of her ideas, casting off from age to age the imperfect systems in which man's error disguises them, appealing ever anew to the simplest trusts and aspirations of his heart, and beckoning him onwards continually to an ultimate union of manifold Divinity at the feet of his Father in heaven. The true progress of the race, it has been said, is hidden in the thoughts of Christ; and though Churches may prove unfaithful, these cannot die. A Church whose theology tacitly puts limits upon the love of God to man, whose authority restrains men from searching diligently into the Word and works of God, whose system bars the free access of man's spirit to the Father of all, whose hierarchy exalt their privilege of ministry into a right of lordship-such a Church contains within itself the seeds of disunion and decay; it is untrue to the catholic ideal; it has lost the spirit of the Master. But the Church which remembers that it is constituted on Divine promises, and endowed with spiritual privileges in order to make known to men their new relationship to God, and furnish them with help to realize the duties which that relationship implies-such a Church bears true witness to Christ; it is a living part of His body, and will necessarily become, through its own vitality, a centre of union.
E. M. Young, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, April 2:7 th, 1876.
Mat 28:20 The New Obedience.
I. There is a twofold element in the law-condemnation and the promise, type and instalment of redemption. Both elements were given in love; in both the purpose was one of mercy. But when the primary object of the law had failed, when men remained proud, self-satisfied, cherishing and excusing sin without humility and repentance, men failed also to see and enjoy the comfort of this promise, the meaning and substance of the type. Thus they who walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless were the very Israelites who waited for the redemption in Jerusalem; they honoured the law, and therefore longed for the Gospel.
II. Christ is come; and now, instead of condemnation, behold grace; instead of shadow and type, behold perfection and fulfilment, that is truth. And (1) let us remember that in Christ only the law of God found its realization and fulfilment. It had hitherto been only an idea seeking embodiment, a problem awaiting its solution, an outline looking for substance and life. Jesus, with the eyes of His heart, saw the law in its breadth and depth; He joyfully filled the entire outline; His willing mind, His loving heart, His filial spirit entered into the whole mind of God, and penetrated to the depth and substance of God's Word. (2) All men are under the law, till through the death of Christ they are freed from it. Christ is, to us who believe, the end of the law for righteousness. The law condemns; the Gospel brings deliverance and salvation. The law could not give life; it could not minister unto us the Holy Ghost. Christ hath quickened us, and by His Spirit dwells in our hearts, and therefore we are able to love. Love is the fulfilment of the law. And as the law could not attain it, so the love which our Lord gives us is something higher and deeper than the law demanded or foreshadowed. (3) The commandments of Christ may be summed up according to the various aspects of the inner and outer life. If we look at the heart, the source and root of life and action, all Christ's commandments are contained in His most touching appeal, "Abide in Me." If we look, again, at the manifestations of life, all Christ's commandments are summed up in His simple words, "Follow Me." If we look at our relation to God, prayer, meditation, and communion, Jesus' commandments may be summed up in one word-in secret: "Enter into thy closet, and shut the door." If we consider our relation to the world, the commandments of Christ are summed up in one word-mission. If we look, again, at the aim and purpose of our energies and lives, it is summed up in one word-heaven: "Set your affection on things that are above."
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 130.
Mat 28:20 Truth, and its Questions To-Day.
I. We live in a time which is called a time of transition, when the old thoughts of men are contending in a sharp battle with the new-so sharp that the very outsiders and camp-followers of the armies of the world, the idle men and women, take an interest and engage themselves therein in a desultory manner. Men and ideas astonish and confuse us. There is no certainty, it seems, in men. We become distrustful and indignant. But it is because we look to men too much, and have not faith in the Man Christ Jesus. It matters, after all, but little how men deceive us. We have one Leader who never disappoints, to whom truth is as dear now as it was to Him on earth, who encompasses our failure with His success, our weakness with His strength, our restlessness with His rest, and lo! He is with us always, even to the end of the world.
II. It may be, however, that other elements have come into our life which give us real reasons for dismay. There are times when a strange thing happens to us-when old evils, old temptations, which we thought we had conquered, which had died out of our lives, arise again, and we tremble with the thought that past effort has been in vain, that sins cannot have been forgiven, because they appear again. But there may be an explanation even of this. I cannot but think that it is not always a note of retrogression, but a note of growth. (1) First, it is not an experience which comes to unaspiring spirits; it belongs especially to those who are possessed with the desire to advance, to pass beyond the bounds of mortal thought, and find the fount of truth. (2) Again, this resurrection of evil things and thoughts may in itself be caused, not by any cessation of growth, but by the progress of growth itself. (3) Because we may redeem the past in Christ, let us go forward with the patience and effort of men. We will not despair while we are wise, nor let the soul, in utter faithlessness, commit the sin of Judas. God is mightier than our evil, too loving for our sins. We shall be punished, but healed through our punishment. The phantom cloud of sins, errors, failures melts away in the growing light, and from the purity of the upper sky a voice seems to descend and enter our sobered heart: "My child, go forward, abiding in faith, hope, and love; for lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life, p. 290.
The Perpetual Presence.
This is the Church's charter. By this instrument we hold our all. If this be true the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. If Christ, the crucified and the risen, is indeed and in truth present still, present for ever, with us who believe, then to be a Christian, a Christian all through and altogether, must be strength, and safety, and happiness, must be life, and glory, and immortality, assured by the word of One who cannot lie, of One who, raised from death, dieth no more. What, then, we ask briefly, are some of the characteristics of this perpetual presence, in the Church and in the soul?
I. It is a special presence. There is a presence in the universe. In Christ all things consist: withdraw Him, and there is chaos. It is not of this presence that He speaks. There is a mind and will, there is a power and a work, inside the community which a man enters by believing, distinct from that which orders sky and sea, replenishes earth with life, and keeps the stars in their courses. This special presence is that which accounts for the very start, and progress, and success of Christianity.
II. It is a spiritual presence. "The Comforter," which is the Holy Ghost, once dwelt with, now He dwells in the Church. The corporeal presence is gone, that the spiritual may come. This presence has influences direct and constant, which are the life of the body. What would the Word be, the book or the voice, without the presence? What would the sacraments be, the water or the supper, without the presence? It is the presence which changes idle sounds, bare materials, fleeting wishes into realities, into instrumentalities, into very powers of a world to come.
III. It is a manifold presence. Every gift and every grace are due to it. Every office and every function of the universal Church are due to it. Not action only, but counteraction; not institution only, but adaptation; not formation only, but reparation-these, too, are parts of it.
IV. Above all else, it is a sanctifying presence. Men may cavil at revelation, fight over doctrine, ask all their days, "What is truth?" there is one thing they dare not malign, and that is holiness. If the presence were protective only, keeping alive in the earth, as a "sign spoken against," a spiritual religion, offering happiness, offering heaven, on the condition of faith in a Saviour, it might attract the weary and sorrowful; it would not appeal, as now, to the conscience and heart of mankind. The presence is proved by its effect. It is a light, it is a power, it is a life, it is a love; men do know for themselves what is the secret of their life, and other men take knowledge of it whether it is powerful and whether it is pure. If Christ can transform a life, if Christ can comfort a death, then I may doubt about many things, but one thing I see, that this is indeed the Saviour I need.
C. J. Vaughan, University Sermons, p. 233.
The Real Presence.
I. Jesus is with us as individuals. Here is our strength. Leaning on Christ our difficulties vanish. "Have not I commanded thee?" said God unto Joshua; "be strong, and be of good courage: be not afraid, neither be thou discouraged; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Jesus is with us (1) in the days of prosperity and joy, (2) in our affliction, (3) when the soul feels deserted and is cast down within us, (4) when we are slow of heart, and cannot believe that He is risen, and walk in sadness. If Jesus is with us, then (a) we have all things. His presence is our all. He Himself is our Life. All the activities of the Church are the manifestations of Christ; of Him is our fruit found. (b) We can do all things. Is He not our Lord and our Strength? Does He not fight all our battles? This is the secret of sanctification. Not merely a remembered Jesus, not merely the motive of gratitude or fear, but the present Jesus. In every temptation, in every duty, in every sorrow lean upon the Lord, who is with thee, and His grace will be sufficient. (c) This is the secret of our influence. If Jesus be with us, sinners will draw near to hear Him, into whose lips grace is poured. The presence of Jehovah in the midst of His people will awe and attract many. The presence of Jesus in our hearts and homes will manifest itself in our character and conduct, and Christ in us will draw many to Himself. (d) Heaven itself is begun, for to be with the Lord is eternal life and blessedness. Jesus shall throughout all eternity be our All. We depend and lean on Him throughout the endless ages.
II. The words of the Lord refer also and primarily to the whole Church. We who believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost believe also that there is the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints. Jesus ascended into heaven, but He has thereby not left earth and His disciples here below. He who dwells in the high and lofty place dwells also with him who is of a contrite and broken heart. Taken away from judgment and humiliation, He delights now in glory to remember His sorrows and temptations on earth, and to sympathize with the saints, whom He is not ashamed to call brethren. Wherever two or three are gathered together in His name He is in the midst of them; He is with every one who loves Him; He is with our spirit.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church, p. 233.
The ever-present Saviour.
These words of our Lord are like every other which He spoke after His Resurrection. All He said, and all He did, after He rose from the grave, was for believers only.
I. The word "alway," in the text, has perhaps rather lost the exactness of meaning which it carried at the time when our translation was made, and there is always a loss of power wherever there is a diminution of exactness. There is a great force and beauty in "all the days." It conveys at once the idea that before the mind of the speaker all the days lay ranged in order, to the last time that the sun shall ever set upon the earth. He saw each in its individuality, each with its own proper history. We are always stepping into an unknown future, but the foot cannot fall outside the presence of Jesus.
II. Most minds, whatever they be, do best in fellowship; very few are independent of the law of sympathy, and those few are the weakest. Now, conceive that you carry about with you, every day, the actual sense of the nearness, and the compassion, and the co-operation of Christ; conceive that you know that there is One at your right hand whose name is "Counsellor," to whom you can turn at any moment, and be sure of perfect direction; conceive that you are conscious of such an arm of strength that you can in your most burdened hour lean on it with all your weight: what a perfected existence would you be leading from that moment; what a path of light would stretch on before you, up to the realms of glory!
III. There is a presence, and if that presence be it must be the determining feature of every man's life, whether he have it or not. If you have it not there is a desideratum, and such a desideratum that I hesitate not to say that whatever you have beside, if you have not the feeling of the presence of Christ life is still to you a failure and a blank. But if you have it, and delight yourself in it, the more you make of it the more it will be to you. Let it be a fixed axiom of life, "Christ is with me everywhere." Do not measure it; do not treat it like the uncertainties of this little world. Time lays no hand upon it; no shade of altered feeling ever comes to darken it; no parting hour will ever sadden it with a last farewell; but from eternity to eternity, again as yesterday, so today, as today, so tomorrow, and as tomorrow, so for ever and ever. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." And let all the new creation cry, "Amen."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 345.
Truth, and its Hope of Progress.
I. "Lo, I am with you alway," was said by Representative Mankind to the mankind He represented. If Christ be with mankind as He is with Himself, present through and in the ages as their heart and brain, then He is the Source whence evolution flows. And because He is perfect, therefore the race evolves towards perfection, and evolution towards perfection is progress. It is impossible to bring forward one half of the proofs of such a progress; but one is enough. It is plain to those who read history more for the sake of human ideas than for its statistics that many of the ideas which restricted the equal freedom of men, which implicitly denied the two great universal ideas of Christianity,-that all men are alike God's children, that all men are brothers in Christ,-have been slowly dying away, and are now rapidly dying. In the decay of these progress is seen; in looking forward to their ruin is our best hope; in proving that their ruin is contained in Christianity is the reconciliation between the world and Christianity. We look forward, upon this "bank and shoal of time," to the destruction of all false conceptions of the relations of God to man and of man to man, to the hail which will sweep away the lingering remnants of every idea which limits, isolates, and tyrannizes over men. For the Redeemer is with us always, even to the end of the world.
II. But we must not expect that this will be done quickly or easily. Let no man or woman think, who is still young, on whom the necessary calm of age has not fallen, that they will have a quiet life, if they are in earnest, for many years to come, either in the world without or in the world within them. Development must have its rude shocks, evolution its transient earthquakes, progress its backslidings. Accept the necessity; count the cost; make ready to take your part in the things which are coming on the earth. See that you are an active part of the great evolution of the race. What matters, after all, the catastrophes, the convulsions of heart and intellect which you must suffer, the shattered sail, the midnight watch in the hurricane, the loneliness of the mid-ocean? It is life at least; it is more, it is moving with the movement of the world, and the world is moving in Christ.
S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life, p. 305.
The Presentiments of Youth.
I. Three things, catastrophe, joy, and change, to either or to all of these we look forward in the hour of presentiment. We take them one by one; we ask if the forecasting of them has anything to tell us. And first, the presentiments of catastrophe, is there any good in them? (1) I think, when they are presentiments regarding others, that they make our life more delicate. They give a finer edge to noble passions. Love becomes cl
We now come to the closing scene of our redemption. For the lively assurance of our reconciliation with God arises from Christ having come from hell as the conqueror of death, in order to show that he had the power of a new life at his disposal. Justly, therefore, does Paul say that there will be no gospel, and that the hope of salvation will be vain and fruitless, unless we believe that Christ is risen from the dead, (1Co 15:14.) For then did Christ obtain righteousness for us, and open up our entrance into heaven; and, in short, then was our adoption ratified, when Christ, by rising from the dead, exerted the power of his Spirit, and proved himself to be the Son of God. No though he manifested his resurrection in a different manner from what the sense of our flesh would have desired, still the method of which he approved ought to be regarded by us also as the best. he went out of the grave without a witness, that the emptiness of the place might be the earliest indication; next, he chose to have it announced to the women by the angels that he was alive; and shortly afterwards he appeared to the women, and, finally, to the apostles, and on various occasions.
Thus he gradually brought his followers, according to their capacity, to a larger measure of knowledge. He began with the women, and not only presented himself to be seen by them, but even gave them a commission to announce the gospel to the apostles, so as to become their instructors. This was intended, first, to chastise the indifference of the apostles, who were like persons half-dead with fear, while the women ran with alacrity to the sepulcher, and likewise obtained no ordinary reward. For though their design to anoint Christ, as if Ire were still dead, was not free from blame, still he forgave their weakness, and bestowed on them distinguished honor, by taking away from men the apostolic office, and committing it to them for a short time. In this manner also he exhibited an instance of what Paul tells us, that he chooses those things which are foolish and weak in the world to abase the loftiness of the flesh. And never shall we be duly prepared to learn this article of our faith in any other manner than by laying aside all pride, and submitting to receive the testimony of the women. Not that our faith ought to be confined within such narrow limits, but because the Lord, in order to make trial of our faith, determines that we shall become fools, before he admits us to a more ample knowledge of his mysteries.
So far as regards the narrative, Matthew says only that the two Marys came to see the sepulcher; Mark adds a third, Salome, and says that they bought spices to anoint the body; and from Luke we infer, that not two or three only, but many women came. But we know that it is customary with the sacred writers, when speaking of a great number, to name but a few of them. It may also be conjectured with probability, that Mary Magdalene, with another companion—whether she was sent before, or ran forward of her own accord arrived at the grave before the rest of the women. And this appears to be conveyed by the words of Matthew, that those two women came for the purpose of seeing; for without seeing Christ:, they had no means of anointing him. He says nothing, in the meantime, about the purpose which they had formed of doing honor to him; for the principal object which he had in view was, to testify of the resurrection.
But it may be asked, how could this zeal of the women, which was mixed with superstition, be acceptable to God? I have no doubt, that the custom of anointing the dead, which they had borrowed from the Fathers, was applied by them to its proper object, which was, to draw consolation, amidst the mourning of death, from the hope of the life to come. I readily acknowledge that they sinned in not immediately raising their minds to that prediction which they had heard from the lips of their Master, when he foretold that he would rise again on the third day. (301) But as they retain the general principle of the final resurrection, that defect is forgiven, which would justly have vitiated, as the phrase is, the whole of the action. Thus God frequently accepts, with fatherly kindness, the works of the saints, which, without pardon, not only would not have pleased him, but would even have been justly rejected with shame and punishment. It is, therefore, an astonishing display of the goodness of Christ, that he kindly and generously presents himself alive to the women, who did him wrong in seeking him among the dead. Now if he did not permit them to come in vain to his grave, we may conclude with certainty, that those who now aspire to him by faith will not be disappointed; for the distance of places does not prevent believers from enjoying him who fills heaven and earth by the power of his Spirit.
(301) “Quand il avoit predit qu’il ressusciteroit le troisieme jour.”
Mat 28:2.And, lo, a great earthquake. By many signs the Lord showed the presence of his glory, that he might more fully prepare the hearts of the holy women to reverence the mystery. (304) For since it was not a matter of little consequence to know that the Son of God had obtained a victory over death, (on which the principal point of our salvation is founded,) it was necessary to remove all doubts, that the divine majesty might be openly and manifestly presented to the eyes of the women. Matthew says, therefore, that there was an earthquake, by which the divine power which I have mentioned might be perceived. And by this prodigy, it was proper that the women should be allowed to expect nothing human or earthly, but to raise their minds to a work of God which was new, and surpassed the expectations of men.
The raiment and the countenance of the angel, too, might be said to be rays by which the splendor of Godhead was diffused, so as to enable them to perceive that it was not a mortal man that stood near them, having the face of a man. For though dazzling light, or the whiteness of snow, is nothing in comparison of the boundless glory of God, but rather, if we wish to know him aright, we ought not to imagine to ourselves any color; yet when he makes known by outward signs that he is present, he invites us to him, as far as our weakness can endure. Still we ought to know that the visible signs of his presence are exhibited to us, that our minds may conceive of him as invisible; and that, under bodily forms, we obtain a taste of his spiritual essence, that we may seek him spiritually. Yet it cannot be doubted that, together with outward signs, there was an inward power, which engraved on the hearts of the women an impression of Deity. For though at first they were struck with amazement, yet it will appear, from what follows, that they gathered courage, and were gradually instructed in such a manner, that they perceived the hand of God to be present.
Our three Evangelists, from a desire of brevity, leave out what is more fully related by John, (Joh 20:1) which, we know, is not unusual with them. There is also this difference, that Matthew and Mark mention but one angel, while John and Luke speak of two. But this apparent contradiction also is easily removed; for we know how frequently in Scripture instances occur of that figure of speech by which a part is taken for the whole. There were two angels, therefore, who appeared first to Mary, and afterwards to her other companions; but as the attention of the women was chiefly directed to the angel who spoke, Matthew and Mark have satisfied themselves with relating his message. Besides, when Matthew says that the angel sat on a stone, there is in his words (ὕστερον πρότερον), an inversion of the order of events; or, at least, that order was disregarded by him; for the angel did not immediately appear, but while the women were held in suspense and anxiety by an event so strange and astonishing.
(304) “A Une reverence du mystere.”
4. Through fear the guards trembled. The Lord struck the guards with terror, as if he had engraved their consciences with a hot iron, so as to constrain them reluctantly to feel his divine power. The terror had, at least, the effect of hindering them from treating with careless mockery the report of the resurrection which was to be spread abroad shortly afterwards. For though they were not ashamed of prostituting their tongues for him, still they were compelled, whether they would or not, to acknowledge inwardly what they wickedly denied before men. Nor can it be doubted that, when they were at liberty to talk freely among their acquaintances, they frankly admitted what they dare not openly avow, in consequence of having been gained over by money.
We must attend to the distinction between the two kinds of terror, between which Matthew draws a comparison. The soldiers, who were accustomed to tumults, were terrified, and were so completely overwhelmed by alarm, that they fell down like men who were almost dead; but no power was exerted to raise them from that condition. A similar terror seized the women; but their minds, which had nearly given way, were restored by the consolation which immediately followed, so as to begin, at least, to entertain some better hope. And, certainly, it is proper that the majesty of God should strike both terror and fear indiscriminately into the godly, as well as the reprobate, that all flesh may be silent before his face. But when the Lord has humbled and subdued his elect, he immediately mitigates their dread, that they may not sink under its oppressive influence; and not only so, but by the sweetness of his grace heals the wound which he had inflicted. The reprobate, on the other hand, he either overwhelms by sudden dread, or suffers to languish in slow torments. As to the soldiers themselves, they were, no doubt, like dead men, but without any serious impression. Like men in a state of insensibility, they tremble, indeed, for a moment, but presently forget that they were afraid; not that the remembrance of their terror was wholly obliterated, but because that lively and powerful apprehension of the power of God, to which they were compelled to yield, soon passed away from them. But we ought chiefly to attend to this point, that though they, as well as the women, were afraid, no medicine was applied to soothe their terror; for to the women only did the angel say, Fear not. He held out to them a ground of joy and assurance in the resurrection of Christ. Luke adds a reproof, Why do you seek the living among the dead? as if the angel pulled their ear, that they might no longer remain in sluggishness and despair.
7. And go quickly, and tell his disciples. Here God, by the angel, confers extraordinary honor on the women, by enjoining them to proclaim to the apostles themselves the chief point of our salvation. In Mark’s account of it, they are expressly enjoined to carry this message to Peter; not because he was at that time higher in rank than the others, but because his crime, which was so disgraceful, needed peculiar consolation to assure him that Christ had not cast him off, though he had basely and wickedly fallen. He had already entered into the sepulcher, and beheld the traces of the resurrection of Christ; but God denied him the honor, which he shortly afterwards conferred on the women, of hearing from the lips of the angel that Christ was risen. And, indeed, the great insensibility under which he still labored is evident from the fact that he again fled trembling to conceal himself, as if he had seen nothing, while Mary sat down to weep at the grave. It cannot be doubted, therefore, that she and her companions, in beholding the angel, obtained the reward of their patience.
And, lo, He goeth before you into Galilee. When the angel sent the disciples into Galilee, he did so, I think, in order that Christ might make himself known to a great number of persons; for we know that he had lived a long time in Galilee. He intended also to give his followers greater liberty, that by the very circumstance of their retirement they might gradually acquire courage. Besides, by being accustomed to the places, they were aided in recognizing their Master with greater certainty; for it was proper to adopt every method of confirming them, that nothing might be wanting to complete the certainty of their faith.
Lo, I have told you. By this manner of speaking the angel earnestly assures them that what is said is true. He states this, not as from himself, as if he had been the first to suggest it, but gives his signature to the promise of Christ; and, therefore, in Mark’s account of it, he merely recalls to their remembrance the very words of Christ. Luke carries out the address still farther, by saying that the disciples were informed by Christ that he must be crucified, and rise again on the third day. But the meaning is the same; for along with his resurrection he had foretold his death. He then adds, —
Mat 28:8.And they departed quickly. The three Evangelists pass by what John relates about Mary Magdalene, (Joh 20:2,) that she returned into the city before she had seen the angels, and complained with tears that the body of Christ had been taken away. Here they mention only the second return to the city, when she, and other women who accompanied her, told the disciples that Christ was risen; which they had learned both from the words and testimony of the angel, and from seeing Christ himself. Now before Christ showed himself, they already ran to the disciples, as they had been commanded by the angel. On the road they received a second confirmation, that they might with greater certainty assert the resurrection of the Lord.
With fear and great joy. By these words Matthew means that they were indeed gladdened by what the angel told them, but, at the same the were struck with fear, so that they were held in suspense between joy and perplexity. For there are sometimes opposite feelings in the hearts of the godly, which move them alternately in opposite directions, until at length the peace of the Spirit brings them into a settled condition. For if their faith had been strong, it would have given them entire composure by subduing fear; but now fear, mingled with joy, shows that they had not yet fully relied on the testimony of the angel. And here Christ exhibited a remarkable instance of compassion, in meeting them while they thus doubted and trembled, so as to remove all remaining doubt.
Yet there is some diversity in the words of Mark, that they fled, seized with trembling and amazement, so that through fear they were dismayed. But the solution is not very difficult; for though they were resolved to obey the angel, still they had not power to do so, (307) if the Lord himself had not loosed their tongues. But in what follows there is greater appearance of contradiction; for Mark does not say that Christ met them, but only that he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, while Luke says nothing whatever of this appearance. But this omission ought not to appear strange to us, since it is far from being unusual with the Evangelists.
As to the difference between the words of Matthew and of Mark, it is possible that Magdalene may have been a partaker of so great a favor before the other women, or even that Matthew, by synecdoche, may have extended to all what was peculiar to one of their number. It is more probable, however, that Mark names her alone, because she first obtained a sight of Christ, and in a peculiar manner, in preference to the others, and yet that her companions also saw Christ in their order, and that on this account Matthew attributes it to all them in common. This was an astonishing instance of goodness, that Christ manifested his heavenly glory to a wretched woman, who had been possessed by seven devils, (Luk 8:2,) and, intending to display the light of a new and eternal life, began where there was nothing in the eyes of man but what was base and contemptible. But by this example Christ showed how generously he is wont to continue the progress of his grace, when he has once displayed it towards us; and, at the same time, he threw down the pride of the flesh.
(307) “Toutesfois le moyen leur defailloit, et elles n’eussent sceu le faire;” — “yet they wanted the means, and would not have known how to do it.”
9. And held his feet. This appears not to agree with the words of John, (Joh 20:17,) where he declares that Mary was forbidden to touch Christ. But it is easy to reconcile them. The Lord, perceiving that Mary was too eager to embrace and kiss his fleet, orders her to retire; because it was proper to correct the superstition, and to point out the design of his resurrection, which Mary was withheld from perceiving, partly by an earthly and carnal affection, and partly by foolish zeal. Yet at first the Lord permitted her to touch his feet, that nothing might be wanting to give her a full conviction; and, therefore, Matthew immediately adds, that they worshipped the Lord, which was a proof that they fully recognized him.
10. Then Jesus saith to them. We conclude, that it was an improper fear, from which Christ again delivers them; for though it arose out of admiration, still it was opposed to the tranquillity of faith. That they may raise themselves to Christ, the Conqueror of death, they are commanded to be cheerful. (308) But by those words we are taught that we never know aright our Lord’s resurrection, until, through the firm assurance which we have conceived in our hearts, we venture to rejoice that we have been made partakers of the same life. Our faith ought, at least, to proceed so far that fear shall not predominate.
Go, tell my brethren. When Christ ordered them to tell this to the disciples, by this message he again collected and raised up the Church, which was scattered and fallen down. For as it is chiefly by the faith of the resurrection that we are now quickened, so at that time it was proper that the disciples should have that life restored to them from which they had fallen. Here, to it is proper to remark the astonishing kindness of Christ, in deigning to bestow the name of brethren on deserters who had basely forsaken him. Nor can it be doubted that he intentionally employed so kind an appellation, for the purpose of soothing the grief by which he knew that they were grievously tormented. But as the Apostles were not the only persons who were acknowledged by him as brethren, let us know that this message was conveyed by the recommend of Christ, in order that it might afterwards come to us. And, therefore, we ought not to listen with indifference to the narrative of the resurrection, when Christ, with his own mouth, kindly invites us to receive the fruit of it on the ground of our being related to him as brethren. As to the interpretation which some have given to the word brethren, as denoting the cousins and other relatives of Christ, (309) their mistake is abundantly refuted by the context; for John expressly says that Mary came and told the disciples, (Joh 20:18;) and Luke immediately adds, that the women told these things to the apostles. Mark also agrees with them; for he says that Mary came and told it to the apostles, while they were mourning and weeping.
(308) “De se resjouir, et ouster toute tristesse;” — “to be glad, and to lay aside all sadness.”
(309) “Les cousins et autres parens de Christ.”
Mat 28:11.And while they were departing. It is not only credible, but the fact is manifest, that the soldiers, to whom had been entrusted the charge of the sepulcher, were corrupted by a bribe, so that they were prepared to tell a lie at the bidding of the priests. They knew well that there was nothing which the priests dreaded more than that a report should gain credit that Christ rose on the third day after his death; and they knew that they had been sent there, that, by guarding the body, they might suppress that report. Those men, therefore, being addicted to making gain, and seizing on opportunities of making it from every quarter, after having found that their diligence was of no service to them, contrive a new method of cheating their employers out of their money. The words of Matthew — some of them came — leave it uncertain if a few cunning men adopted this resolution without communicating with the rest, or if they were sent, by a general agreement, in the name of all. The latter supposition appears to be more probable; for Matthew afterwards says that money was given, not to one or two, but generally to the soldiers, to induce them to commit perjury. It is at all events certain that, whether they all plotted together, or only a part of them, they sought to make profit of the cruel and implacable hatred which the priests bore towards Christ; and that, looking upon them as convicted of a crime. they abused their evil conscience to extort money from them. For, as usually happens with all wicked men, the priests, conscious of having done wrong, in order to cover their disgrace, were compelled to bribe the soldiers by a large reward. Thus it is evident that the reprobate, after having once given themselves up to a course of sinning, are continually entangled in new crimes; and this arises out of their desire to conceal their shame before men, while they give themselves no concern about the offense committed against God. Those wretched men not only bribe the soldiers by a large sum of money, but expose their own reputation and life to serious danger, should cognizance be taken of the crime. And what constrains them, in addition to the expense which they have laid out, to incur so serious a risk, but because inveterate rage does not permit them to withdraw until they have added sin to sin?
15. And this statement is currently reported. It was the finishing stroke of the vengeance of God to blind the Jews, that the resurrection of Christ was buried by the perjury of the soldiers, and that so gross a falsehood was believed. And hence it is evident that those who did not believe that Christ was risen were deceived by a voluntary error, as the world voluntarily gives itself up to be deceived by the snares of Satan. For if a man had but opened his eyes, it was unnecessary that he should make a long inquiry. Armed soldiers say that the body of Christ was stolen from them by a feeble, timid, small, and unarmed body of men. What plausible grounds have they for saying so? They add that this was done while they were asleep. How then do they come to know that it was stolen? And if they had any suspicion of the disciples, why did they not track their footsteps? Why did they not, at least, make a noise? It was therefore a childish subterfuge, which would not have screened them from punishment, if they had had to deal with an honest and upright governor; but through the connivance of Pilate, that enormous wickedness was allowed to pass unnoticed, In like manner, we see it happen every day, that irreligious judges give themselves little trouble, when truth is oppressed by fraud and malice; but, on the contrary, if they are not afraid of suffering damage, they appear to enter into collusion with base and infamous men.
Though it may appear strange that God should permit this false report to gain currency to extinguish the glory of his Son, we ought to render the honor which is due to his just vengeance. For we perceive that this nation deserved to have its light taken away by clouds, because it so eagerly seizes hold on an idle and childish falsehood; next, because almost all have struck on the stone of stumbling, it was proper that their eyes should be darkened, that they might not see that the cup of giddiness was presented to them; and, in short, that they were abandoned to every kind of madness, as Isaiah had foretold, (Isa 6:9.) For God would never have permitted them to be deceived by such a foolish credulity, but in order that those who had despised the Redeemer might be shut out from the hope of salvation; as he now inflicts a similar punishment on the ingratitude of the world, by giving loose reins to the reprobate, that they may go from bad to worse. But though this falsehood obtained currency among the Jews, this did not prevent the truth of the Gospel from flying at liberty to the very ends of the earth, as it always rises victorious over all the obstacles in the world.
Mat 28:16.And the eleven disciples went into Galilee. Matthew, passing by those occurrences which we have taken out of the other three Evangelists, mentions only in what place the eleven disciples were appointed to the apostolic office. For—as we have already had frequent opportunities of perceiving—it was not the intention of the Evangelists to embrace every part of the history; because the Holy Spirit, who guided their pen, has thought fit to compose such a summary as we see out of their united testimonies. Matthew has therefore selected what was of the greatest importance to us, namely, that when Christ appeared to the disciples, he likewise commissioned them to be apostles, to convey into every part of the world the message of eternal life.
To the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. Though the mountain is not mentioned any where else, yet we con-elude that this spot in Galilee was known to Mary. (323)
(323) “Que Christ enseigna nommément ce lieu-là a Marie;” — “that Christ expressly informed Mary respecting that place.”
17. But some doubted. It is wonderful that, after they had twice seen Christ, still some doubted. If any one choose to view this as referring to the first appearance, there will be no absurdity in that opinion; for the Evangelists are sometimes in the habit of blending a variety of transactions. But neither would it have the appearance of absurdity to suppose that in some of them the remains of their former terror led them again into hesitation; for we know that, when Christ appeared, they were struck with fear and amazement, till they had recovered their minds and had become accustomed to his presence. The meaning, therefor appears to me to be, that some at first hesitated, until Christ made a nearer and more familiar approach to them; but that when they certainly and absolutely recognized him, then they worshipped, because the splendor of his divine glory was manifest. And perhaps it was the same reason that suddenly caused them to doubt, and afterwards led them to worship him; namely, that he had laid aside the form of a servant, and had nothing in his appearance but what was heavenly.
18. And Jesus approached and spoke to them. His approach unquestionably removed all hesitation. Before relating that the office of teaching was committed to the disciples, Matthew says that Christ began by speaking of his power; and not without reason. For no ordinary authority would here have been enough, but sovereign and truly divine government ought to be possessed by him who commands them to promise eternal life in his ham to reduce the whole world under his sway, and to publish a doctrine which subdues all pride, and lays prostrate the whole of the human race. And by this preface Christ not only encouraged the Apostles to full confidence in the discharge of their office, but confirmed the faith of his gospel in all ages. Never, certainly, would the Apostles have had sufficient confidence to undertake so arduous an office, if they had not known that their Protector sitteth in heaven, and that the highest authority is given to him; for without such a support it would have been impossible for them to make any progress. But when they learn that he to whom they owe their services is the Governor of heaven and earth, this alone was abundantly sufficient for preparing them to rise superior to all opposition. As regards the hearers, if the contemptible appearance of those who preach the gospel weakens or retards their faith, let them learn to raise their eyes to the Master himself, by whose power the majesty of the Gospel ought to be estimated, and then they will not venture to despise him when speaking by his ministers.
He expressly calls himself the Lord and King of heaven and earth, because, by constraining men to obey him in the preaching of the gospel, he establishes his throne on the earth; and, by regenerating his people to a new life, and inviting them to the hope of salvation, he opens heaven to admit to a blessed immortality with angels those who formerly had not only crawled on the world, but had been plunged in the abyss of death. Yet let us remember that what Christ possessed in his own right was given to him by the Father in our flesh, or—to express it more clearly—in the person of the Mediator; for he does not lay claim to the eternal power with which he was endued before the creation of the world, but to that which he has now received, by being appointed to be Judge of the world. Nay, more, it ought to be remarked, that this authority was not fully known until he rose from the dead; for then only did he come forth adorned with the emblems of supreme King. To this also relate those words of Paul:
he emptied himself, (ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε,) therefore God hath exalted him, and given to him a name which is above every other name,
(Phi 2:7.)
And though, in other passage the sitting at the right hand of God is placed after the ascension to heaven, as later in the order of time; yet as the resurrection and the ascension to heaven are closely connected with each other, with good reason does Christ now speak of his power in such magnificent terms.
19. Go out, therefore, and teach all nations. Though Mark, after having related that Christ appeared to the eleven disciples, immediately subjoins the command to preach the gospel, he does not speak of these as an unbroken series of events, for we learn from the enumeration of them which is given by Matthew, that the latter event did not take place before they had gone into Galilee. The meaning amounts to this, that by proclaiming the gospel everywhere, they should bring all nations to the obedience of the faith, and next, that they should seal and ratify their doctrine by the sign of the gospel. In Matthew, they are first taught simply to teach; but Mark expresses the kind of doctrine, that they should preach the gospel; and shortly afterwards Matthew himself adds this limitation, to teach them to observe all things whatsoever the Lord hath commanded.
Let us learn from this passage, that the apostleship is not an empty title, but a laborious office; and that, consequently, nothing is more absurd or intolerable than that this honor should be claimed by hypocrites, who live like kings at their ease, and disdainfully throw away from themselves the office of teaching. The Pope of Rome and his band proudly boast of their succession, as if they held this rank in common with Peter and his companions; and yet they pay no more regard to doctrine than was paid by the Luperci, or the priests of Bacchus and Venus. (324) And with what face, pray, do they claim to be the successors of those who, they are told, were appointed to be preachers of the gospel? But though they are not ashamed to display their impudence, still with every reader of sound judgment this single word is sufficient to lay prostrate their silly hierarchy—that no man can be a successor of the apostles who does not devote his services to Christ in the preaching of the gospel. In short, whoever does not fulfill the duties of a teacher acts wickedly and falsely by assuming the name of an apostle; and what is more—the priesthood of the New Testament consists in slaying men, as a sacrifice to God, by the spiritual sword of the word. Hence it follows, that all are but pretended and spurious priests who are not devoted to the office of teaching.
Teach all nations. Here Christ, by removing the distinction, makes the Gentiles equal to the Jews, and admits both, indiscriminately to a participation in the covenant. Such is also the import of the term: go out; for the prophets under the law had limits assigned to them, but now,
the wall of partition having been broken down,
(Eph 2:14,)
the Lord commands the ministers of the gospel to go to a distance, in order to spread the doctrine of salvation in every part of the world. For though, as we have lately suggested, the right of the first-born at the very commencement of the gospel, remained among the Jews, still the inheritance of life was common to the Gentiles. Thus was fulfilled that prediction of Isaiah, (Isa 49:6,) and others of a similar nature, that Christ was
given for a light of the Gentiles,
that he might be the salvation of God to the end of the earth.
Mark means the same thing by every creature; for when peace has been proclaimed to those that are within the Church, the same message reaches those who are at a distance, and were strangers, (Eph 2:17.) How necessary it was that the apostles should be distinctly informed of the calling of the Gentiles, is evident from this consideration, that even after having received the command, they felt the greatest horror at approaching them, as if by doing so they polluted themselves and their doctrine.
Baptizing them. Christ enjoins that those who have submitted to the gospel, and professed to be his disciples, shall be baptized; partly that their baptism may be a pledge of eternal life before God:, and partly that it may be an outward sign of faith before men. For we know that God testifies to us the grace of adoption by this sign, because he engrafts us into the body of his Son, so as to reckon us among his flock; and, therefore, not only our spiritual washing, by which he reconciles us to himself, but likewise our new righteousness, are represented by it. But as God, by this seal confirms to us his grace, so all who present themselves for baptism do, as it were, by their own signature, ratify their faith. Now since this charge is expressly given to the apostles along with the preaching of the word, it follows that none can lawfully administer baptism but those who are also the ministers of doctrine. When private persons, and even women, are permitted to baptize, nothing can be more at variance with the ordinance of Christ, nor is it any thing else than a mere profanation. Besides, as doctrine is placed first in order, this points out to us the true distinction between this mystery and the bastard rites of the Gentiles, by which they are initiated into their sacred mysteries; for the earthly element does not become a sacrament until God quickens it by his word. As superstition improperly counterfeits all the works of God, foolish men forge various sacraments at their pleasure; but as the word, which is the soul, is not in them, they are idle and unmeaning shadows. Let us therefore hold that the power of the doctrine causes the signs to assume a new nature; as the outward working of the flesh begins to be the spiritual pledge of regeneration, when it is preceded by the doctrine of the gospel; and this is the true consecration instead of which, Popery has introduced to us the enchantments of sorcery.
Accordingly, it is said in Mark, He that shall believe and be baptized shall be saved. By these words Christ not only excludes from the hope of salvation hypocrites who, though destitute of faith, are puffed up only by the outward sign; but by a sacred bond he connects baptism with doctrine, so that the latter is nothing more than an appendage of the former. But as Christ enjoins them to teach before baptizing, and desires that none but believers shah be admitted to baptism, it would appear that baptism is not properly administered unless when it is preceded by faith. On this pretense, the Anabaptists have stormed greatly against infant baptism. But the reply is not difficult, if we attend to the reason of the command. Christ orders them to convey to all nations the message of eternal salvation, and confirms it by adding the seal of baptism. Now it was proper that faith in the word should be placed before baptism, since the Gentiles were altogether alienated from God, and had nothing in common with the chosen people; for otherwise it would have been a false figure, which offered forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit to unbelievers, who were not yet members of Christ. But we know that by faith those who were formerly despised are united to the people of God.
It is now asked, on what condition does God adopt as children those who formerly were aliens? It cannot, indeed, be denied that, when he has once received them into his favor, he continues to bestow it on their children and their children’s children. By the coming of Christ God manifested himself as a Father equally to the Gentiles and to the Jews; and, therefore, that promise, which was formerly given to the Jews, must now be in force towards the Gentiles,
I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee,
(Gen 17:7.)
Thus we see that they who entered by faith into the Church of God are reckoned, along with their posterity, among the members of Christ, and, at the same time, called to the inheritance of salvation. And yet this does not involve the separation of baptism from faith and doctrine; because, though infants are not yet of such an age as to be capable of receiving the grace of God by faith, still God, when addressing their parents, includes them also. I maintain, therefore, that it is not rash to administer baptism to infants, to which God invites them, when he promises that he will be their God.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This passage shows that the full and clear knowledge of God, which had been but darkly shadowed out under the Law and the Prophets, is at length fully discovered under the reign of Christ. True, indeed, the ancients would never have ventured to call God their Father, if they had not derived this assurance from Christ their Head; and the Eternal Wisdom of God, who is the fountain of light and life, was not wholly unknown to them. It was even one of their acknowledged principles, that God displays his power by the Holy Spirit. But at the commencement of the gospel God was far more clearly revealed in Three Persons; for then the Father manifested himself in the Son, his lively and distinct image, while Christ, irradiating the world by the full splendor of his Spirit, held out to the knowledge of men both himself and the Spirit.
There are good reasons why the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are expressly mentioned; for there is no other way in which the efficacy of baptism can be experienced than when we begin with the unmerited mercy of the Father, who reconciles us to himself by the only begotten Son; next, Christ comes forward with the sacrifice of his death; and at length, the Holy Spirit is likewise added, by whom he washes and regenerates us, (Titus 3:5,) and, in short, makes us partakers of his benefits. Thus we perceive that God cannot be truly known, unless our faith distinctly conceive of Three Persons in one essence; and that the fruit and efficacy of baptism proceed from God the Father adopting us through his Son, and, after having cleansed us from the pollutions of the flesh through the Spirit: creating us anew to righteousness.
(324) The God Pan, in honor of whom the grossest indecency was practiced at the festival of the Lupercalia, — Bacchus, the patron of drunkenness, — and Venus, the patroness of licentiousness, — recall to every one who is familiar with classical literature the degraded state of morals into which Rome had sunk amidst the proudest triumphs of civilization. Ancient Heathenism, like the Braminism of modern Hindostan, offered a ready apology for every species of crime, and associated with the history of its gods, and with the most sacred duties of religion, scenes so utterly impure, and so much fitted to inflame the basest passions, that the bare recital of them would offend a modest ear. By the present allusion, Calvin means something more than meets the eye, and reminds us that the Pope and his clergy not only “paid as little regard to Christian doctrine as the priests of Pan, and Bacchus, and Venus,” but that they too closely resembled them in the flagrant immorality of their lives. Above all, he points to the refinements of casuistry, the shocking disclosures of the confessional, and the profligacy of monastic life, in all of which, under the cloak of religion, practices, of which it is a shame even to speak, (Eph 5:12,) received the most direct encouragement. — Ed.
Mat 28:20.Teaching them to observe all things. By these words, as I have formerly suggested, Christ shows that, in sending the apostles, he does not entirely resign his office, as if he ceased to be the Teacher of his Church; for he sends away the apostles with this reservation, that they shall not bring forward their own inventions, but shall purely and faithfully deliver from hand to hand (as we say) what he has entrusted to them. Would to God that the Pope would subject to this rule the power which he claims for himself; for we would easily permit him to be the successor of Peter or of Paul, provided that he did not usurp a tyrannical dominion over our souls. But as he has set aside the authority of Christ, and infects the Church with his childish fooleries, this shows plainly enough how widely he has departed from the apostolic office. In short, let us hold that by these words teachers are appointed over the Church, not to put forward whatever they may think proper, but that they, as well as others, may depend on the mouth of the Master alone, so as to gain disciples for him, and not for themselves.
And, lo, I am with you always. As Christ gave to the apostles a commission which they were unable to discharge by reliance on merely human power, he encourages them by the assurance of his heavenly protection. For before promising that he would be with them, he began with declaring that he is the, King of heaven and earth, who governs all things by his power and authority.
The pronoun I must be viewed as emphatic; as if he had said that the apostles, if they wished zealously to perform their duty, must not consider what they are able to do, but must rely on the invincible power of those under whose banner they fight. The nature of that presence which the Lord promises to his followers ought to be understood spiritually; for it is not necessary that he should descend from heaven in order to assist us, since he can assist us by the grace of his Spirit, as if he stretched out his hand from heaven. For he who, in respect of his body, is at a great distance from us, not only diffuses the efficacy of his Spirit through the whole world, but even actually dwells in us.
Even to the end of the world. It ought likewise to be remarked, that this was not spoken to the apostles alone; for the Lord promises his assistance not for a single age only, but even to the end of the world. It is as if he had said, that though the ministers of the gospel be weak and suffer the want of all things: he will be their guardian, so that they will rise victorious over all the opposition of the world. In like manner, experience clearly shows in the present day, that the operations of Christ are carried on wonderfully in a secret manner, so that the gospel surmounts innumerable obstacles.
So much the more intolerable is the wickedness of the Popish clergy, when they take this as a pretext for their sacrilege and tyranny. They affirm that the Church cannot err, because it is governed by Christ; as if Christ, like some private soldier, hired himself for wages to other captains, and as if he had not, on the contrary, reserved the entire authority for himself, and declared that he would defend his doctrine, so that his ministers may confidently expect to be victorious over the whole world.
Mat 28:1. In the end of the sabbath, &c.- Some writers close the last chapter thus, Sealing the stone, and setting a watch late on the sabbath; and begin the present, and when it began to dawn, &c. as the Jewish day began at sun-setting, the Jews distinguished the evening into two parts, which they called the first and second evening; the first being the evening with which the preceding day ended, and the second the evening with which the new day began. The first evening was the space from three in the afternoon to sun-setting; the second began at sun-setting, and lasted till nine, comprehending the whole first watch of the night. Those able and ingenious writers who have written upon our Lord's resurrection, are not agreed whether the word rendered the end, signifies the first evening or the second. I. They who imagine that the first evening was intended by the historian, suppose that the two Marys went to visit the sepulchre at the end of the Jewish sabbath, or about the setting of the sun; but that they were prevented by the earthquake, mentioned Mat 28:2 which frighted them so that they turned back. To remove the objection which might be drawn from the expression, as it began to dawn, τη επιφωσκουση, they observe, that the Greek word, though it implies that idea in its primary signification, yet in Luk 23:54 signifies to be about to begin, or to draw on, and that the word should be used in the same sense in this passage; In the end of the sabbath, as it drew near to the first day of the week. II. They who imagine the historian is speaking of the second evening, appear to be supported by the account in St. Mark, as well as that in St. John; for whether we take the Greek word to signify to draw near, or to dawn, as both these interpretations may imply that it was yet dark, its beginning, or drawing near to the dawn, will be allowed to denote the same point of time; namely, the end of the night, and the beginning of the day. The only question arising from this interpretation is, how this can be reconciled with the time mentioned by St. Mark, namely, the rising of the sun? Mar 16:2. But this question may be solved upon the principle of the former hypothesis, that the women set out towards the end of the evening, or towards the dawn, but were prevented from coming to the sepulchre till the time determined by St. Mark. And indeed the order of St. Matthew's narration requires, that his words should be understood to signify the time of their setting out, otherwise all that is related of the earthquake, &c. must be thrown into a parenthesis, which would verymuch disturb the series of the history, and introduce much greater harshness into the construction, than any avoided by it: nay, it must be confessed that there can hardly be any harshness in the interpretation now contended for. The word ηλθε, in St. Matthew, might as well have been translated went as came; the verb, itself signifying both to go and to come, and consequently being capable of either sense, as the context may require. That in St. Matthew requires to take the original word in the former sense, for the sake of order, and for the following reason: the principal fact upon the account of which the whole history of the women's going to the sepulchre seems to have been related, is the resurrection of Christ: and this fact is absolutely without a date, if the words of St. Matthew are to be understood to denote the time of the women's arrival at the sepulchre. When we say without a date, we mean, that it does not appear from any thing in St. Matthew or the other evangelists, at what hour of that night this great event happened: all the information they give us is, that when the women came to the sepulchre, they were told by angels that he was risen. But on the contrary, by understandingSt. Matthew to speak of the time of Mary Magdalene's setting out to take a view of the sepulchre, we have the date of the resurrection settled, and know precisely that Christ rose from the dead between the dawning of the day and the sun-rising: and can any substantial reason be assigned, whySt. Matthew, having thought fit to enter into so circumstantial an account of the resurrection, should omit the date of so important a fact; or that, not intendingto mark it, by mentioning the time of the women's going to the sepulchre, he should place that fact before another, which in order of time is prior to it? All these considerations therefore seem to be powerful arguments for understanding this passage of St. Matthew in the sense aboveexpressed. About St. Mark's meaning there is no dispute: he certainly intended to express the time of the women's arrival at the sepulchre; his words cannot be taken in any other sense: those in St. John are limited to the same interpretation with those of St. Matthew, it having been allowed before, that they both speak of the same point of time. The reason of the two Marys setting out so early is here assigned. They went to take a view of the sepulchre; that is to say, in general to see if all things were in the same condition in which they had left them two days before; that ifin that interval any thing extraordinary had happened, they might report ittotheircompanions,and,inconjunctionwiththem,take their measures accordingly. Hence it is also evident why they were so few in number; they came to view the sepulchre, and came before the time appointed fortheir meeting. They knew that they themselves were not able to roll away the stone, which they had seen placed by Joseph of Arimathea at the mouth of the sepulchre, and which they knew could not be removed without a great number of hands. Accordingly, as they drew near, they said among themselves, Who shall roll away the stone for us from the door of the sepulchre? Words which intimate that one of their chief views in coming to see the sepulchre, was to survey this stone, and to consider whether they, and the other women who had appointed to meet them there, were by themselves able to remove it, or whether they must have recourse to the assistance of others; for who shall roll away the stone for us? implies a sense of their own inability, and of the necessity of calling in others; after which the only thing to be considered was whom, and how many. This therefore was the point under deliberation when they approached the sepulchre. It is plain from thesewords, that they did not expect to find any body there, and consequently that they knew nothing of the guard which the high-priests had set to watch the sepulchre; of which had they received any intelligence, theyhardly would have ventured to come at all, or would not have deliberated about rolling away the stone, as the only or greatest difficulty. See West on the Resurrection, p. 48, 4
Mat 28:2-4. And behold, there was a great earthquake- While the women were going to the sepulchre, there was a great earthquake, namely, that which preceded the most memorable event that ever happened among men,-the resurrection of the Son of God from the dead. This earthquake probably frightened the women to such a degree, that they immediately returned back;or their return might have been rendered necessary by a storm, if this earthquake was attended with a storm; or we may espouse the opinion of Hammond and Le Clerc, who interpret the words σεισμος μεγας in this passage, of a tempest only. The word Σεισμος properly signifies any shaking, whether in earth, air, or sea. As the tempest therefore, or earthquake, which preceded our Lord's resurrection, was a great one, it could hardly fail to lay the women under a necessity of returning. The guards, it is true, remained at the sepulchre all the while; but there was a great difference between the tempers of the persons; not to mention that the men being soldiers, duty obliged them to keep their post as long aspossible.Thewholeofthisaccount is further strengthened by the following remark; that, on a supposition that our Lord's resurrection was preceded by a tempest, or earthquake, or both, which frightened the two Marys as they went to the sepulchre, and made them turn back, we can see the reason why the women did not go out with the spices till the morning, notwithstanding, according to St. Luke, they had bought and prepared at least the greatest part of them the evening on which Jesus was buried; and notwithstanding the nature of embalming required that they should make as much dispatch as possible. After the two Marys returned, they went with their companions to get ready such spices as were necessary to complete their preparation; (see Mar 16:1.) and while they were making these preparations forembalming Jesus, he arose from the dead; this resurrection being preceded, as we observe, by the descent of an angel, who assumed a very aweful and majestic form, insomuch that the keepers shook, and became as dead men, for fear of him: probably they fainted away. It is not said at what particular instant Jesus arose, whether it was before the guards fell into the swoon, or after they recovered themselves and fled. St. Mark indeed, by observing that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, maybe thought to insinuate, that the guards did not see him when he arose; yet the Evangelist's words do not necessarily imply this; for his meaning may be, that he appeared to Mary Magdalene first of all in respect to the disciples only. Besides, though the guards saw him arise, it was, properly speaking, no appearance of Christ to them: however, be this as it may, it is certain that Jesus was arisen and gone, before any of the women arrived at the sepulchre. Probably also the angel had left the stone on which he sat at first, and had entered into the sepulchre; for as we shall see immediately, when he shewed himself to the women, he invited them not to go away, but to come, and see the place where the Lord lay. Besides, when the women observed the stone rolled from the door of the sepulchre, they saw no angel sitting on the stone, as is evident from their going forward so briskly. See Mar 16:5. The purpose of this angel's descending from heaven, says Mr. West, seems to have been, not only to roll away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, that the women who were on their way thither might have freeentrance to it, but also to fright away the soldiers who were set to guard it; and who, had they continued there, wouldcertainly not have permitted the disciples of Jesus to have made the necessary inquiries for their conviction. Could it be supposed that either they or the women would have attempted to enter into the sepulchre, while it was surrounded by a Roman guard? For this end it is not unreasonable to suppose, that he might not only raise a tempestuous earthquake, but assume a countenance of terror, flashing with dreadful light amid the darkness of the night; which were circumstances so full of amazement, that they could not fail of producing, even in the hearts of Roman soldiers, the consternation mentioned by the Evangelists, and driving them from a post, of which the Divinity (for so, according to their way of speaking and acting, they might have stiled the angel) had now taken the possession. The reasonableness of these two purposes every body must acknowledge, and that this is a very material point towards establishing the fact: especially, ifweconsider,thatwithouttheinterpositionofheaventhesepulchre would not have beenopened, nor the guard removed, till after the expiration of the third day, the day prefixed by Christ for his resurrection from the dead: in which case, though no earthly power could have hindered Christ from coming out of the sepulchre, yet the door remaining closed, and the guard continuing there, must effectually have prevented that examination into the state of the sepulchre, which convinced St. John that Christ was risen; and which, if it did not of itself amount to a clear proof of the resurrection, was at least admirably calculated to prepare the minds, not of the Apostles only, but of all the Jews who were at that time in Jerusalem, to admit such other proofs as were afterwards offered to their consideration; for it is not to be imagined that none but the disciples of Jesus visited the sepulchre that day, See West and Macknight.
Mat 28:5-7. And the angel answered- This paragraph is not so connected with the preceding, as if nothing had intervened; since it will be found, upon a closer examination of it, and comparing it with its parallel, Mar 16:2-8 that between the soldiers becoming like dead men, and the angel's speaking to the women, Salome had joined the two Marys in their way to the sepulchre; and that before they arrived there, the keepers were fled, and the angel was removed from off the stone, and seated within the sepulchre; for which reason the particle δε, instead of being rendered by the copulative and, should rather be expressed by the disjunctive but, or now, as denoting an interruption in the narration, and the beginning of a new paragraph. See West, p. 23.
Mat 28:8. And they departed quickly, &c.- And they instantly left the sepulchre:-Version of 1729. And they hastily went out of the sepulchre. Heylin. This verse contains a beautiful description of the mingled passions.
Mat 28:9-10. And as they went-Jesus met them- In the general scheme of the resurrection which I propose giving at the end of St. John's Gospel, when we have had the whole narrative before us, the precise time and circumstances of this meeting of our Lord's with the women will be shewn.
Mat 28:11-15. Now when they were going, &c.- The chief priests, having received the report of the guard, called the whole senate together, and consulted among themselves what they were to do. The deliberations, however, of the meeting were not kept secret. They were reported to the disciples, perhaps by Joseph and Nicodemus, two members of the council, who were our Lord's friends. The priests were reduced to a most absurd story, though certainly the best colour which they could put on the affair; a story, which they endeavoured by bribery and every other mean method to propagate as much as they could; and accordingly St. Matthew tells us, Mat 28:15 that this idle tale was commonly reported among the Jews, even so long after the ascension of our Lord as when he wrote his Gospel. Justin Martyr informs us, that the Jews sent a rescript or embassy to their brethren of the dispersion, and theirconverts all over the globe, affirming this very thing; and Tertullian likewise says as much. To furnish the Jewish converts with an answer to this absurd story so industriously propagated among their unbelieving brethren, and supported by the authority of the chief priests and elders, this Evangelist relates at large the history of the guarding the sepulchre, the earthquake, the descent of the angel, his rolling away the stone, and the fright of the soldiers at his appearance: and indeed, by comparing this relation with the report given out by the soldiers, it will easily appear on which side the truth lay. For as there is nothing in the miraculous resurrection of our Lord, so repugnant to reason and probability, as that the disciples should be able to roll awaythe stone which closed the mouth of the sepulchre, and carry away the body of Jesus unperceived by the soldiers, who were set there on purpose to guard against such an attempt; so it is also evident, that the particulars of the soldiers' report were founded upon the circumstances of this history. In this report three things are asserted; viz. that the disciples stole the body,-that they stole it in the night,-and that they stole it while the guards were asleep.
That Jesus came out of the sepulchre before the rising of the sun St. Matthew informs us: who says, that the earthquake, &c. happened at the time when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary set out to take a view of the sepulchre, which was just as the day began to break. This fact was undoubtedly too notorious for the chief priests to venture at falsifying it, and was besides favourable to the two other articles: this therefore they admitted; and, taking the hint from what the soldiers told them, of their having been cast into a swoon or trance, and becoming like dead men at the appearance of the angel, and consequently, not having seen our Saviour come out of the sepulchre, they took the hint, we say, of framing these two last-mentioned articles from that circumstance related by St. Matthew, of the keepers shaking and becoming like dead menupon the sight of the angel;for throughout this whole history there was no other besides this, upon which they could prevaricate and dispute. The stone was rolled away from the sepulchre, and the body was gone; this the chief priests were to account for, without allowing that Jesus was risen from the dead. The disciples, they said, stoleit away. What! while the guards were there? Yes; the guards were asleep. With this answer they knew many would be satisfied, without inquiring any farther into the matter: but they could not expect that every body would be contented; especially as they had reason to apprehend, that although the soldiers, who had taken their money, might be faithful to them,keep their secret, and attest the story which they had framed for them, yet the truth might come out by means of those whom they had not bribed; for St. Matthew says, Mat 28:11. "Some of the watch went into the city, and shewed" &c. Some therefore remained behind, who probably had no share of the money which the chief priests gave to the soldiers; or, if they had, in all likelihood it came too late: they had already divulged the truth, as well from the eagerness which all men naturally have to tell any thing wonderful, as from a desire of justifying themselves for having quitted their post. The chief priests therefore were to guard against this event also; in order to which nothing could be more effectual than to counter-work the evidence of one part of the soldiers, by putting into the mouths of others of them a story, which, without directly contradicting the facts, might yet tend to overthrow the only conclusion which the disciples of Jesus would endeavour to draw from them, and which they were so much concerned to discredit; viz. That Jesus was risen from the dead. For if the disciples and partizans of Jesus, informed by some of the soldiers of the several circumstances related in St. Matthew, should urge these miraculous events as so many proofs of the resurrection of their Master, the unbelieving Jews were, by the testimony of those suborned witnesses, instructed to answer that the earthquake and angel were illusions and dreams,-that the soldiers had honestly confessed that they were asleep, though some of them, to screen themselves from the shame or punishment that such a breach of duty deserved, pretended they were frightened into a swoon or trance by an extraordinary appearance, which they never saw, or saw only in a dream;-that, while they slept, the disciples came and stole the body; for none of the soldiers, not even those who saw most, pretend to have seen Jesus come out of the sepulchre;-they were all equallyignorant by what means the body was removed;-when they awaked, it was missing;-and it was more likely that the disciples should have stolen it away, than that an impostor should rise from the dead. This story is founded entirely upon the circumstance of the soldiers not having seen Jesus come out of the sepulchre; a circumstance, that even those who told the real truth could not contradict, though they accounted for it in a different manner, by saying that they were frightened into a swoon or trance at the sight of a terrible apparition, which came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. But this fact the chief priests thought not prudent to allow, as favouring too muchthe opinion of Christ's being risen from the dead; neither did they reject it intirely, because they intended to turn it to their own advantage; and therefore, denying every thing that was miraculous, they construed this swoon or trance into a sleep, and, with a large sum of money and promises of impunity, hired the soldiers to confess a crime, and, by taking shame to themselves, to cover them from confusion. The guards say, that they were asleep, and that the disciples in the mean time stole away the body: but how came they to be so punctual in relating what had happened when they were asleep? What induced them to believe that the body was stolenat all? What, that it was stolen by the disciples, since, by their own confession, they were asleep, and saw nothing,-saw nobody? as this story has no evidence to support it, so neither has it any probability. The disciples were ignorant men, full of the popular prejudices and superstitions of their country; and is it likely that such men should engage in so desperate a design as to steal away the body in opposition to the combined power of the Jews and Romans? What could tempt them to do it? What good could the dead body do to them? Or if it could have done them any, what hope had they to succeed in the attempt? A dead body requires many hands to move it; the great stone at the mouth of the sepulchre was to be removed, which could not be done silently, or by men walking on tiptoes to prevent discovery; so that if the guards had really been asleep, yet there was no encouragement to go on in this enterprize; for it is hardly possible to suppose, but that rolling away the stone, moving the body, and the hurry and confusion in carrying it off, must have awakened them. But supposing the thing practicable, yet the attempt was such as thedisciples, consistently with their national prejudices, could not undertake. They continued all their Master's life-time to expect to see him a temporal prince, and they had the same expectations after his death. Consider now their case; their Master was dead, and they are to contrive to steal away his body; for what? Did they expect to make a king of the dead body, if they could get it? or, did they think, if they had it, they could raise it again? This is in all views absurd. It is not to be imagined that none but the disciples of Jesus visited the sepulchre that day. The story told by the soldiers undoubtedly soon spread all over Jerusalem; and bare curiosity,without any other motive, was surely sufficient to carry numbers to survey the scene of so astonishing an event:-a sepulchre hewn out of a rock, closed with a vast stone, committed to a guard of Roman soldiers, notwithstanding all these precautions, opened, as one part of the soldiers reported, by an angel; as others said, by the disciples of Jesus; who stole away the body, which in effect was missing. There two different and irreconcileable reports must have likewise induced others to go and consider upon the spot, by examining into the nature and situation of the sepulchre, and the probability of that report which charged the disciples with having stolen away the body: for as, upon that supposition, none but human means are said to be employed, to know whether those means were proportioned to the effects ascribed to them, it was necessary to compare what was done with the manner in which it was to be performed. And upon such an examination, it must have appeared to every considerate man, if not impossible, at least improbable in the highest degree, for the disciples of Jesus to have stolen his body away, while the guards were at their posts. For supposing the disciples to be the reverse of what they were,-bold, enterprizing, cunning impostors, and capable of making so hazardous an attempt; can it also be supposed, that a company of Roman soldiers, trained up under the strictest discipline, and placed there but the evening before, should be all asleep at the same time, and all sleep to soundly and so long as not to be awakened, either by the rolling away of thestone, which must certainly have been very large, or by the carrying off of the body? the former of which required a great number of hands, and the latter must have appeared to have been done with some deliberation, since the linen cloths in which the body was wrapped, and the napkin that wasabout the head, were found folded up and laid in different parts of the sepulchre? The sepulchre was hewed or hollowed out of the solid rock, and consequently must have been entered by that only passage which was closed up by a large stone and guarded by a band of Roman soldiers. These several circumstances, duly attended to, were of themselves sufficient to invalidate the testimony of those soldiers who pretended that the disciples stole away the body. But they were, on the other hand, very strong arguments for the credibility of that account in which all the rest at first agreed. For in this relation a cause is assigned proportionable to all the effects; effects, which, as they were visible and notorious as well as extraordinary, could not fail of exciting the natural curiosity of mankind, to inquire by what means they were brought about. The solution is easy and full;-for the angel descended, &c. Mat 28:2. This accounts for the terror of the soldiers, their deserting their post, and their precipitate flight into the city; for the stone's being rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre, even while it was surrounded by a Roman guard; for the sepulchral linen being left in the grave folded up, and lying in different places; and for the body's being missing. See West on the Resurrect. p. 16, &c. Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses, p. 43, &c. and Ditton on the Resurrection. Instead of large money, Mat 28:12 some read, a large sum of money.
Mat 28:16-17. Then the eleven disciples went away, &c.- The time now approached when Jesus was to shew himself publicly in Galilee, after having frequently shewn himself in a more private manner to his disciples and the women. This was in many respects the most remarkable of all his appearances. He promised it to his apostles before his death, ch. Mat 26:32. The angels who attended at his resurrection, spoke of it to the women who came to his sepulchre, and represented it as promised to them also, Mar 16:7. Nay, Jesus himself, after his resurrection, desired the company of women to tell his brethren to go into Galilee, where they should see him, as if the appearance whichhe was to make that day, and on the eighth day thereafter, were of small importance in comparison. Moreover, the place where he was to appear in Galilee was mentioned by him, as St. Matthew here informs us. Whether there were more present at this appearance than the eleven, the Evangelist does not say:nevertheless the circumstances of the case direct us to believe that it had many witnesses. This appearance was known before-hand. The place where it was to happen was pointed out by Jesus himself. The report, therefore, of his being to appear, must have spread abroad, and brought many to the place at the appointed time. In short, it is reasonable to think that most of the disciples now enjoyed the happiness of beholding personally their Master raised from the dead. What confirms this supposition is, that St. Paul says expressly, that Jesus after his resurrection was seen of above five hundred at once, 1Co 15:6. For the number of the witnesses mentioned by St. Paul, agrees better with the appearance on the mountain in Galilee, described by St. Matthew, than with any other. Galilee having been the principal scene of Christ's ministry, the greater part of his followers lived there; for which reason he chose to make, what may be called, his most solemn and public appearance after his resurrection on a mountain in that country,-the appearance to which a general meeting of all hisdisciples was summoned, not only by the angels who attended his resurrection, but by our Lordhimself, the very day on which he rose. The greatest part of those present were so fully convinced that the person they saw was their Master, that they worshipped him:-and when they saw him, they worshipped him;-but some doubted: with respect to a few, their joy at seeing their Lord put them into a kind of perturbation; and their desire that it might be he, made them doubtful, and afraid that it was not. This reason is assigned by St. Luke for the unbelief of some on an occasion previous to this, (see Luk 24:41.)-They believed not for joy and wonder, and therefore it may be fitly offered to account for the unbelief of others on this occasion. Besides, the thing is agreeable to nature, men being commonly afraid to believe what they vehemently wish, lest they should indulge themselves in false joys, which they must soon lose. Hence the saying in Terence,-Misera mens incredula est; quo plus cupio, minus credo: "My anxious mind is incredulous; the more I wish, the less I believe." The case of the disciples, whose desire and joy made them doubt the truth of what they saw, may be illustrated by the instance of the states of Greece and Asia, whose joy and surprize on hearing a Roman herald declare them all free, and at liberty to use their own laws, had a similar effect on them, as you will find the circumstance beautifully related in Livy, lib. xxxiii, ch. 35. The Prussian editors, however, who are followed by some others, render the clause thus.-even those who had doubted. It is probable, that at this appearance the apostles received orders to return to Jerusalem; for from Act 1:3-12 compared with Luk 24:50 it is plain that our Lord's discourses before his ascension, related Mar 16:15; Mar 16:20 and Luk 24:44; Luk 24:53 were delivered in or near to the city. Besides, he ascended from the mount of Olives, as we shall see in the subsequent evangelists. Wherefore, if the orders for the apostles to repair to Jerusalem were not given at this appearance, Jesus must have shewed himself again, which indeed is not impossible, as it is evident from 1Co 15:7 that he shewed himself somewhere, after his appearance to the five hundred brethren, to the apostle James alone, though none of the evangelists have given the least hint of this appearance. In the college of the apostles there were two persons of that name; one the brother of John, who was killed by Herod; another the brother or cousin of Jesus. Perhaps it was to James the brother of John, that our Lord appeared after his resurrection; and his being to suffer martyrdom so early, might make this special favour necessary. See Macknight and West.
Mat 28:18. All power is given unto me, &c.- Our Saviour here declares all power and authority to be given to him as Mediator at his resurrection: in consequence of which power, he commissions his disciples to convert, baptize, and instruct the world. There is no doubt but this power is part of the exaltation spoken of by St. Paul, to which God raised the human nature of Christ, in his mediatorial capacity, for his sufferings. See Phillip. Mat 2:6, &c.
Mat 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, &c.- And disciple all nations. This commission of our Lord marks out the difference between the Mosaic and the Christian dispensation: the one was confined to the Jews; the other was extended to all the sons and daughters of Adam. The whole tenor of the succeeding books of the New Testament shews, that Christ's design by this commission was, that the Gospel should be preached to all mankind without exception, not only to the Jews, but to all the idolatrous Gentiles: but the prejudices of the apostles led them at first to mistake the sense, and to imagine that it referred only to their going to preach the Gospel to the Jews among all nations, or to those who should be willing to become Jews. The word Μαθητευσατε, is very properly rendered proselyte, or make disciples of, to distinguish it duly from διδασκοντες, teaching, in the next verse. The former seems to import instruction in the essentials of religion, which it was necessary that adult persons should know and submit to, before they could be admitted to baptism: the latter may relate to those more particular admonitions in regard to Christian faith and practice, which were to be built upon that foundation. Because proselyting is here enjoined as previous to baptism, it has been inferred by some that infants are not to be baptized: but if this argument were good, it would follow from Mar 16:16 that infants cannot be saved; nay, it is there declared, that he who believeth not, shall be damned. The truth is, both passages must be interpreted according to the subjects treated of in them, which are plainly adult persons; and therefore no argument can be drawn from them concerning either the baptism or the salvation of infants. In or into the name, is a Hebraism, which signifies to devote one's self to any particular person, and to be desirous of being called after his name,-to profess one's self his disciple. Thus St. Paul says, 1Co 1:13; 1Co 1:31 that he had baptized no one in his name, that is to say, that he had made no one a convert to himself as the founder of a new religion: see also 1Co 10:2. Though perhaps we should not positively affect, that the use of these very words is essential to Christian baptism, yet surely the expression must intimate the necessity of some distinct regard to each of the sacred Three, which is always to be maintained in the administration of this ordinance; and consequently it must imply, that more was said to those of whose baptism we read in the Acts, than is there recorded, before they were admitted to it. The Christian church in succeeding ages has acted a safe and wise part in retaining these words; and they contain so strong an intimation, that each of these Persons is properly GOD, and that worship is to be paid, and glory ascribed to each, that we cannot doubt but they will be a means of maintaining the belief of the one, and the practice of the other, to the end of the world. See Doddridge, Grotius, and Waterland's Sermons on the Trinity, p. 286.
Mat 28:20. Teaching them, &c.- Christ commands that nothing should be taught which he himself had not taught: whence it is evident thatevery thing fundamental may be found in the Gospel; and that even the apostles themselves could not teach any thing as necessary to salvation, which Christ himself had not asserted to be so. The ascension of our blessed Lord seems to have been a fact so well known to all the Christians in Palestine, that there was no necessity for St. Matthew to mention it. It seems to be implied, and to have been declared to his disciples, from this passage, which is intended to obviate the objection which would arise from considering that circumstance; and our Lord may be represented as saying, "I am indeed going to heaven, and shall not appear visibly among you; but I shall always be virtually present with you." St. Mark and St. Luke, writing to those who lived out of Judea, very properly mention the ascension, and were under a necessity of doing so. Our Saviour adds, I am with you always even to the end of the world; that is, to the final dissolution of this temporary system. "I am with you: I the eternal Son of God; I, who have the angels at my beck, and make the devils to tremble with my looks; I, who in your sight have caused the storms to cease, the blind to see, the lame to walk, the dead to rise, only with the word of my mouth; I, who have all power in heaven and earth committed to me,-am with you;-not I will be with you; but I am with you,-in the present tense;-minding them thereby of his divine essence and power, to which all things are present; and therefore, as he elsewhere says, Before Abraham was, I am; so here, I am with you, at all times, to the end of the world, as really as at this present: it follows, I am with you, my apostles, who now receive commission to go and convert all nations to the Christian faith, to baptize and teach mankind my commands. I am with you πασας τας ημερας, every day. Wherever you are, whenever you do any thing in my Spirittowards the executing the commission which I have given you, I am with you in the doing of it; and that too to the very end of the world, that is to say, so long as I have a church upon earth, which will be till my coming again to judge the world. All this while I promise to be with you, and consequently as long as the world shall last," See Bishop Beveridge's first Sermon, vol. 1: on Christ's Presence with his Ministers. Though the word Amen, with which each of the Gospels ends, seems chiefly to have been intended as an intimation of the conclusion of the book, and as an asseveration of the certain truth of the things contained in it; yet, considering the connection of the word with the preceding promise, which was undoubtedly the greatest strength and joy of St. Matthew's heart, it is very natural to suppose, that it has some such reference as this to that promise: "Amen! blessed Jesus, so may it indeed be; and may this important promise be fulfilled to us; and to our successors in the ministry, to the remotest ages in its full extent." St. John uses the like turn in more express language, in the last verse but one of the Revelation; surely I come quickly; Amen, Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Inferences.-The grave is an unusual stage for the display of glory; the best that Job could say of it, when in the anguish of his soul he most desired it, was, "There the wicked cease from troubling; there the weary are at rest." And some others, distressed like him, may think death eligible, and long for the grave as a refuge from misery. Generally speaking, however, the grave is an object of horror too loathsome to be described. There lie the ruins of man sinking into corruption and putrefaction. So offensive, ignominious, and loathsome is the grave, in the ordinary course of nature. But it was the peculiar privilege of our Lord, that his rest, his sepulchre, should be glorious, Isa 11:10. For it was the theatre of his resurrection. To methodize our thoughts upon this subject, it may be proper to consider the glory of our Lord's resurrection in two views; first, as it illustrates him; and, secondly, as it influences us; for it is of the essence of glory to be diffusive, and to stream forth from its subject upon all objects within its sphere; which occasions these distinct considerations of the glory of this his resurrection, in its source, and in its influence.
1. We shall discover somewhat of the personal glory of Christ, in the circumstances of his resurrection related by the Evangelists: and here it is material to observe, that not only the prophets, but he himself had often foretold it; a circumstance which was particularly remarked by the angel who first brought the glad tidings to the two Marys, at their early visit to his sepulchre, He is not here, he is risen, as he said, Mat 28:6 that is, "according to his own prediction;" a circumstance of great moment for establishing our faith in this mystery, and preventing or answering the cavils of infidelity.
And first, He had frequently told it to his disciples, as appears from many passages in the Gospel, wherein he commonly foretels his death and resurrection together, perhaps to mitigate a little the scandal of the cross, by the glories which were to ensue; and at the same time to prepare their faith by the one for the other. At first his sufferings could not but appear highly improbable to his disciples; for they could not conceive how a person like him, vested with omnipotence, should suffer by Jew or Gentile, much less that he should die under their hands: yet they saw this verified within five days after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem; and this in reason should have confirmed their faith in the remaining part of the prophesy which concerned his resurrection; for so our Lord intended it should, as he declared upon a like occasion; I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He. Joh 14:29.
But had the disciples alone been acquainted with these predictions, sceptical men might have had some pretences against their testimony; at least we should have lost many substantial proofs of the resurrection, which the vigilant malice of the Jews has furnished; and therefore our Lord took proper occasions to inform them of it. Indeed the Jews in general understood sufficiently that he appealed to such a resurrection for the final confirmation of his divine mission, as appears particularly from their address to Pilate for a guard to watch his sepulchre; wherein they mention his foretelling his resurrection as a thing that was notorious: Pilate, readily consenting to their request, left the guards to their disposal; for, if he had given them directions himself, they might still have had some room to pretend that right measures were not taken for securing the sepulchre; and therefore by the especial appointment of Providence, to remove all the subterfuges of infidelity, they had the ordering of the guard themselves.
Thus authorised by the governor, and animated by the passion which transported them, they neglect nothing. The tomb is closed with a great stone; that stone is sealed, and the whole sepulchre invested, and, as it were, besieged by soldiers. No precaution was omitted. There was no want of care to reproach themselves with, that there might be no want of evidence wherewith to reproach the truth: a needless provision this, against a few poor fishermen, who were naturally timorous; who had abandoned their Master at the first appearance of danger; who were since sunk into consternation and despair at his death; and whose hopes were all buried in the tomb with him; who were so far from an inclination, as well as capacity, for so hazardous an enterprize, that they were strangely backward even to believe the miracle itself, when it was accomplished; and Thomas in particular was so obstinate in his unbelief, that he would not be persuaded of his Master's revival, till he had the testimony of all his senses.
It was reasonable to expect, that our Lord's persecutors should have first heard of his resurrection from his disciples; but as they had contrived matters, they received the news of it from their own watch flying in dismay from the angelic vision. Thus God, who in the order of his providence converts the evil purposes of men to his own glory, made the Jewish malice contribute to establish the certainty of our Lord's resurrection by such proofs, as could not have happened but by their opposition. And this was needful, that his glory should at last break forth with a lustre sufficient to dissipate any reasonable doubt and surmise. For all his foregoing transactions from the manger to the tomb, although infinitely excellent, were comparatively little glorious; because their merit was in a considerable measure veiled by his humility. Now glory is merit displayed; it is a manifestation of excellence; and the resurrection is therefore, by way of eminence, the glorious mystery, because it was the manifestation of the excellency of Christ; it was a demonstration of his Divinity, which emerged, as it were, from the abyss of humiliation into which it was sunk. Here he shewed, that what he had done and suffered was truly meritorious, because it was voluntary, We know that he had willingly laid down his life, when we see him by his own power take it up again; and we learn to value his death as a free-will offering for our redemption, when we contemplate his resurrection. Expiring on the cross, he seemed to go the way of all flesh, and fall like the rest of Adam's sons, by a common and unavoidable fate: but we cannot longer doubt that he sought death as a conqueror, when we see him return in triumph from the grave. St. Paul speaks of this as a fundamental of Christianity, that the resurrection of Christ certifies us of his Divinity. He was declared, says he, to be the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead; and indeed there can be no doubt of this, while we believe that he raised himself from the dead. Now, what a splendor and glory does this cast upon all the parts of his precedent life, which, if we consider him only as what he often stiles himself, the Son of man, is indeed exceedingly pious, holy, and virtuous, to a degree never before attained: but when his resurrection shews him to be the Son of God, it is all amazing. That the Son of God should be born in a stable, that the Son of God should live in poverty, and die in pain;-what instruction! what an example! what encouragement! but above all, how glorious is that Son of God, amid such miracles of goodness, such prodigies of divine love and condescension, for which the angels can never sufficiently admire him; for which all his saints shall eternally adore him!
So glorious, and infinitely more than words can express, is the resurrection of our Lord, with regard to himself, as it asserts his Divinity, and puts the seal to all his revelations. But glory, as we observed, is of a diffusive nature, issuing forth in bright influences upon all objects within its sphere; and therefore we are next to consider our Lord's resurrection with regard to ourselves, and shew the certain consequence of it, which is our own resurrection from the dead. The world had now lasted four thousand years, at the time of Christ's death; and all generations hitherto had sunk into the grave, unknowing in general what would become of them. We must except here the patriarchs and saints of the Jewish church, who, by an anticipated revelation of a Redeemer, had their hopes full of immortality. But the bulk of mankind were in the dark concerning a future state. Good men might wish, and wise men expect, a life to come; but these wishes, and these expectations, were perplexed with much doubt and misgiving. Death was as a gulf, whereof they saw only the entrance, and could discern nothing beyond. But the glories of our Lord's resurrection have enlightened the grave, and so dissipated the shades of death, as to shew that to be only a passage or thoroughfare, which before seemed a gulf and an abyss. For life and immortality were brought to light by the Gospel of Christ, who declared not only that there was a resurrection, but that he himself was the resurrection, or that power whereby men shall be raised from the dead,-and the life, Joh 11:25. As the sun is light in itself, and the great source of day to all the worlds around it, so Christ is resurrection to himself, and the great cause and author of resurrection to all mankind; who, after they have undergone the common sentence of death passed upon them in Adam, the first head of our race, are by this second representative of the human species restored to immortality; for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead; for as by Adam all died, even so by Christ shall all be made alive. And indeed it is a very natural prerogative of Christ, as Judge of the world, that he should by his own power summon all men to his tribunal: of which he himself gives a most particular account, Joh 5:21-26., &c.
The resurrection and a future judgment are fundamental principles of morality, and they are in the Gospel not only taught but demonstrated. The Divinity raised Christ's human body out of the grave, to convince us that he will also raise us at the last day. This is a miracle in kind, involving the thing in question, most pertinent, cogent, and irrefragable; so that we cannot but conclude with St. Paul, That God has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead, Act 17:31.
Seeing then that we have this assurance, do we hope or do we fear a resurrection? for we must expect it. If upon just grounds we hope for it, happy are we; but if we fear it, may we be warned in time to remove those fears, by such faith in this great Redeemer, and such holiness of life, as may give comfort and joy to the soul in the prospect of futurity! It is my duty here to persuade every reader to this, and to advise and direct him in the performance of it: but I can only persuade and advise; he himself must work out his own salvation, for it is God that worketh in him.
REFLECTIONS.-1st, The resurrection of Jesus being the grand hinge on which our hope of salvation turns, it must afford the most singular satisfaction to observe the amazing force of evidence wherewith this glorious event is attested. Had he still lain in the grave, and had death maintained his dominion over him, our faith had been vain, and we must have perished in our sins: but, glory be to God, he hath raised up Jesus from the dead, and hath thereby begotten us to a new and lively hope. Some testimonies of this fact are here produced: many more will be found in the other Evangelists. We have,
1. The visit made to the sepulchre by those holy women who had attended Jesus to the cross and to the grave, even Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James; and they came now to see the sepulchre, if it was as they left it, bringing spices to embalm the body; this was in the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week. Christ had lain in the grave part of our Friday, all Saturday, which was the Jewish sabbath; and on the Sunday morning, the third day, very early, probably about four o'clock, he arose, after dwelling among the dead about six and thirty hours; long enough to shew his death real, yet not so long as that his body should see corruption. Psa 16:10. See the Annotations.
2. As they went, and talked about the difficulty of removing the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, which seems to have been more ponderous than they could roll away, behold! to their astonishment, there was a great earthquake, which, had the guards indeed slept, must needs have roused them; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, as the officer of the Most High. He accordingly came, and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it, defying all the powers of earth or hell to roll it on again; waiting there to welcome the poor women who were on their way, and striking terror and dismay into the stout-hearted soldiers. His countenance was bright as the lightning, and his raiment white as snow, the emblem of purity and victory. Trembling in every limb, the guards shook like the earth which rocked under their feet, and, pale as death, with haste fled from the tremendous presence of this angelic minister.
The other Evangelists mention two angels: one sat on the stone without, and invited and led the women into the sepulchre, where they found another; the one of which stood at the feet, and the other at the head of the grave, where the body had lain.
3. The women, being come to the sepulchre, were at first affrighted at the sight (Mar 16:5.); but the angel, kindly accosting them, endeavoured to silence their fears. Fear not ye; whatever terrors seize the sinners in Zion, the lovers of the Lord Jesus need not tremble; for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified, and they who seek a crucified Jesus, have nothing to fear; have every thing to hope: none ever sought his face in vain. He is not here, that you should any longer bedew his corpse with tears: no; he is risen for your comfort, as he said he should on the third day. Then graciously inviting them to come and see the place where the Lord lay, that they might be convinced he was not there, he probably led the way into the sepulchre, whither they followed him, and saw the other angel, mentioned Joh 20:12. And hereupon the angel dismisses them with a message to the disconsolate disciples; Go quickly, and be the messengers of this glad news; tell his disciples, now dejected and despairing, to their surprise and joy, he is risen from the dead; and behold, for the confirmation of your own faith and theirs, he goeth before you into Galilee, where you and they must follow him; and there shall ye see him, converse with him, and receive the fullest assurance of his resurrection. Lo! I have told you; remember to deliver these tidings, and be assured of the truth of what I have spoken.
4. Agitated with surprise and joy at what they had seen and heard, and eager to communicate the glad news, they ran to the disciples; and in their way Jesus himself met them, and with kindest salutation accosted them, All hail, all peace, happiness, and joy be with you! With lowliest reverence they cast themselves instantly at his feet, and in a transport of love embraced them, adoring him as their risen Lord and Saviour. Then Jesus, further to confirm their hearts, and remove every fear, bids them not be afraid; they need apprehend neither danger nor delusion, but must deliver the message his angel had put into their mouths, Go tell my brethren; by such an endearing name was he pleased to distinguish his disciples; that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Note; (1.) Christ is not ashamed to call his servants brethren. (2.) Faith in a risen Redeemer effectually silences a sinner's fears: in him we see the great atonement accomplished, and are filled with joy and peace in believing.
2nd, The resurrection of Jesus is proved by a cloud of unexceptionable witnesses, among whom his very enemies held a distinguished place.
1. The guard, who had fled, had just reached the city as the women were on their return thither; and some of them, probably the officers who commanded the detachment, went directly to the chief priests; and to their astonishment related all that had passed-the earthquake, the descent of the angel, the removal of the stone, and perhaps the rising of Jesus; and if any thing could ever have shocked their obdurate hearts, one should conceive the report of such incontestible eye-witnesses of the fact would have convinced them of their wickedness, and turned them to the Lord. But they were determined in impenitence and unbelief, and therefore given up to a reprobate mind. Hereupon,
2. The chief priests and elders consulted together, and resolved to support what they had done at all events; and therefore, to invent the most plausible pretext to evade the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus, knowing the powerful effects of money, and how ready men are to sell the truth, nay their very souls, for it, they bribed the guard high to tell a lie as absurd as wicked, that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while they slept. And as the men might justly apprehend such a confessed criminal neglect in them, as sleeping upon guard, might be attended with rigorous punishment if it came to the governor's ears, the rulers engage to interpose their influence, and to save them harmless. But the whole contrivance was so barefaced, that it carried its own confutation, except to such as chose their own delusions. Can it be conceived, that where the trust was so important, and death the penalty of neglect, a centinel would sleep? But if one man may be supposed to be overtaken, would a whole band of men be all asleep at once? If they had been so, would those timid disciples, who had fled at the first approach of danger, when their Master was alive, now dare rush into the jaws of death, to rescue his corpse? Could such a number of them as was requisite to roll away the stone, and remove the body, have been able to accomplish such a thing without awaking one of the soldiers that lay around the tomb? and if they slept, how could they possibly know that his disciples came and stole him away? Nay, their very living to support the falsehood, was a full proof against them; for, had they slept as they pretended, these very priests had been the first to have had them put to death for their neglect, instead of interesting themselves to screen them from punishment.
3. The bribe extorted from the heathen soldiers an easy compliance: they took the money, and said and did as they were taught. And this senseless story, being industriously propagated by the priests, was readily followed by those who wished to be deceived, and continued long after to be commonly reported among the Jews, to render the disciples odious, and prevent the effects of their ministry. Note; (1.) Money is the grand bait for the grossest crimes: the raging love of that once rooted in the heart, swallows up every consideration of truth, honesty, and justice. (2.) No outward evidence is sufficient to overcome the infidelity of the heart, where the sinner is determined to oppose the powerful operations of the Holy Ghost. Were we to choose what proofs we would, greater could not be given than these men beheld, and yet not one of them was converted. No signs or wonders will convince those who wilfully and obstinately reject the Gospel. (3.) A malicious lie once raised, is in its consequences often fatally extensive; but woe to the author!
3rdly, According to the directions of their Master, the eleven Apostles went into Galilee to the mountain appointed, having summoned a general meeting of all the disciples, whose number amounted to above five hundred. There Jesus again appeared unto them, and, fully convinced now of his being the Son of God, they paid him divine adoration. But some among them still doubted, weak and wavering, and scarce able to credit the testimony of their senses: so very slow of heart were they to believe, and so little disposed to be credulous in a matter of such infinite importance. But Jesus soon removed all their doubts, conversing familiarly with them, and giving them the most indubitable proofs of the identity of his person, and the certainty of his resurrection. Hereupon, as he was now about to take his farewell of earth, he invests them with his authority, sends them out under his influence, directs them in their work, and assures them of his blessing on their labours.
1. He asserts the authority with which, as Mediator, he is invested, and in virtue of which he puts them in trust with his gospel. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. As Mediator, he had received the universal sovereignty; angels, principalities, and powers above were made subject unto him; and on earth all things and persons were put under his government; which was a most encouraging consideration to them who were about to go forth in his name, since his support would make them more than conquerors. Note; When we are discouraged with the view of our own weakness and insufficiency, we should look by faith to the all-sufficiency of Jesus, and be comforted.
2. He gives them a commission out of the plenitude of his power. Go ye therefore, and all who shall in succeeding ages be put in trust with the same Gospel, teach all nations. They are to carry the glad tidings into all lands, and make disciples every where, baptizing them and their households, who should be converted by their ministry, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, admitting them by this rite into the visible communion of the Church: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; declaring to them the riches of the grace, and the extent of the privileges of the Gospel; with all the mighty obligations to obedience resulting from faith, which worketh by love; enjoining the word of Jesus as the only rule of duty, to which nothing is to be added, and whence nothing must be diminished; and urging the disciples to adorn the doctrine which they profess, by that conscientious observance of all those moral duties and positive ordinances, which may prove the truth of the grace which is in them, bring glory to God, and credit to their holy religion.
3. He assures them of his constant spiritual presence, to teach, comfort, and prosper them in all their labours of love. Lo! I am with you; be assured of it, as the most undoubted truth, though my bodily presence be removed, my spirit shall abundantly supply that loss; in all difficulties and dangers I will support you; in all emergencies I will direct you; I will give you success in all your labours, and consolation in all your sufferings; and that alway, even unto the end of the world. Not only all your days shall you find me near to help you, but to the end of time your faithful successors in the ministry shall experience my continual support and blessing, in the preaching of that Gospel which you deliver unto them. Amen. Verily I say unto you, who am the faithful and true witness, I will fulfil my promises. Or this may be the Evangelist's word, expressing his own, and the church's faith and prayer, that so it may be, and so we believe it shall be. What Christ hath promised, we may confidently expect to receive, and pray in faith, nothing doubting.
