Acts
1
1 “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus,
of all that Jesus
began both to do
and teach,” I made for have I made, Authorized Version;
concerning for of, Authorized
Version; to teach for teach,
Authorized Version.
The former treatise; literally, the first history,
narrative, or discourse. The form
of the Greek, τὸν μὲν τρῶτον – ton men troton – the indeed first, shows that the
writer had in
his mind at the time to contrast the second history, which he was
just beginning, and that naturally τὸν δὲ δεύτερον – ton de deuteron or τοῦτον
δὲ τὸν
λόγον – touton de ton logon - ought both grammatically and logically,
to have followed. But the mention of “the apostles whom He had chosen”
drew him, as it were, into the stem of his history before
he was able to
describe it. O Theophilus.
The omission of the title “most
excellent,”
given to Theophilus in the Gospel
(Luke 1:3), is one among other indications
that the publication of the Acts followed very closely upon
that of the Gospel.
Began both to do and to teach. Some
take the phrase as equivalent to did and
taught; others supply
the
sense and continued until the day, etc.; or, which is
the same thing, supply the terminus a quo, making
the whole sense equivalent
to “all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
until the day,” etc.; others
gather Luke’s meaning to be that in the Acts he is about
to narrate the continuance
by our Lord in heaven of the work which He only began on
earth. But the words
“began” and “until
the day” certainly suggest the beginning and the ending of
our Lord’s ministry, or rather the whole ministry from its
beginning to its end,
so that the meaning would be “of all that Jesus did and taught from first to last.”
To do and to teach.
So the disciples on the way to Emmaus speak of Jesus as
“a Prophet mighty
in deed and word” (Luke 24:19). Compare
the stress laid upon
the works of Christ in ch.10:38-39.
Alpha and Omega (v. 1)
“Concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.” This opening
sentence of the Acts, full of significance, as pointing at
once to the past
years of Christ’s earthly ministry and to the future work
of His people, in
His Name and by His power, and connecting them together. He
Himself is
the Alpha of the kingdom, and He is the Omega. His
doing and His teaching
really one; in matter and in
manner, Divine; the standard for
apostles and
all others; the Acts of the Apostles a continuation of the
acts of their
Master. He only began to do and to teach in His
ministry; He went on to
manifest Himself by the Spirit, according to His promise, “He
[the Father]
shall give you another Comforter [Helper], that He may be with you for
ever” (John 14:16). Consider, then:
short period of His life and
ministry; yet containing deeds and words which
have created the world afresh.
Not the bare history of miracles, or record
of religious discourses, but the
manifestation to the world of the Divine
Spirit through a human history, character, and speech.
when He was received be the
consummation of the gospel story; the “doing
and up teaching” were not only
before men, but before God, on behalf of men.
Hence the distinction between
Christ’s ministry and that of all merely human
doers and teachers. God accepts His pre-eminence, is
well-pleased in His
testimony — a testimony which
was wrought out both in active efforts and
patient suffering. His
pre-eminence is prophetic, priestly, kingly. The
necessity, especially in our
times, of following Christ is thought to the right
hand of God. He is not merely
the highest of the philanthropists and the
wisest of the sages. He is the HEIR OF ALL THINGS,, “received up” to
heaven, pre-eminence that “in
all things He might have the pre-eminence.”
(Colossians 1:18_
is followed by the ministry of
His apostles. The Acts only the first volume
of an endless record of gracious
ministration, of which Jesus is the Source
and His people the instruments.
Hence the value of the Acts. It helps us to
see what a Christ-like ministry is; how it overcomes the world, how it
reveals the Spirit. Yet compare
the Acts and the Gospels, and we are
taught how much the servants
fall below their Lord. Instances of infirmity
and sin in apostles.
Encouragement in the great lesson, our life linked on to
Christ’s. “Acts” a
continuation. Keep close to the doing and teaching of
Jesus, in its essential features
and ruling spirit.
2 “Until the day in which He was taken up, after that He
through the
Holy Ghost had
given commandments unto the apostles whom He
had chosen:” Received
for taken, Authorized Version; commandment
for
commandments, Authorized
Version; after that He had given commandment
through the Holy Ghost for after that He through the Holy
Ghost had given
commandments, Authorized
Version.
The commandment or
directions given
by our Lord to the apostles between the Resurrection and the Ascension are
recorded partly in Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke
24:44-49; John 21.;
and yet more fully in
vs. 3-8 of this chapter. Through the Holy Ghost. The sense
is certain. Jesus gave His charge to His apostles through the
Holy Ghost. It was
by the Holy
Ghost abiding in Him that He spake to the apostles.
This is the
repeated declaration of Holy Scripture. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me” (Isaiah 61:1;
Luke 4:18; ch.10:38. See also Matthew 12:28; Luke 4:1;
Hebrews 9:14; and
for the construction, ch.11:28; 21:4). Received up
(ἀνελήφθη – anelaephthae – He
was taken up); the same word as is used in the
Septuagint of Elijah (II Kings 2:10-11). In Luke 24:51 it
is carried up. (ἀνεφέρετο –
anephereto – He was
carried up)
3 “To whom also He shewed Himself
alive after His passion by many
infallible
proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining
to the
Authorized Version; appearing unto them for seen of, Authorized Version;
concerning for pertaining
to, Authorized Version. The addition of the words by
many proofs makes it necessary to understand the words
allowed Himself
(παρέστησεν ἑαυτόν
– parestaesen heauton – He
presents Himself ) in the sense
which it bears both in classic and Scriptural Greek, of proved
or demonstrated:
“To whom He gave
distinct proofs of His being alive after His passion;” the proofs
follow — being “seen of them” for forty days at
intervals, talking with them, and
(v. 9) “being taken
up while they were looking.” Doubtless, too, he had in his
mind those other proofs which he records in ch.10:41, and
those referred to by Paul
(I Corinthians 15:5-8). For this sense of παρίστημι – paristaemi – prove;
to present
evidence, see ch. 24:13, “to prove:” and Lysias’s ‘Oration against
Eratosthenes’ (p. 125), where the almost identical phrase occurs which
we
have here, Ἀμφότερα ταῦτα πολλοῖς τεκμηρίοις
παραστήσω
– Amphotera tauta
pollois tekmaeriois parastaeso - , I will prove both
these things by many certain proofs.
The Authorized Version rendering, “infallible proofs,” was quite justified. and the
technical meaning of τεκμήριον – tekmaerion – token;
fact; infallible truth - in
Aristotle is a “demonstrative proof,” as opposed to a σημεῖον – sign;
miracle,
which leaves room for doubt; and in medical writers, which
is important as
regards Luke, the τεκμήριον is the “infallible symptom.”
Luke, by the use of the
word here, undoubtedly meant to express the certainty of
the conclusion based
on those proofs. Appearing unto them. The Greek ὀπτανόμενος – optanomenos –
being
seen; being visualized, corresponding to the φανερωθεὶς – phanerotheis –
manifestation - of
the Epistle of Barnabas, ch.15., only occurs in the New
Testament in this place. In the Septuagint of I Kings 8:8
it is used of
the staves of the ark within the veil, which “were not seen
without.” The
idea intended to be conveyed, both by the use of this verb
and by the use of
διὰ
- dia (by the space of),
is that our Lord was not with the apostles always, as
He was before the Resurrection, but that He came and again
disappeared. They
were fleeting appearances spread over forty days. The
nearly related substantive,
ὀπτασία – optasia, means “a vision,”
and is frequently used by Luke, ch. 26:19;
Luke 1:22; 24:23. It is also found in II Corinthians 12:l. Concerning the kingdom
of God; a subject which had deeply engaged their thoughts (Luke
19:11), and on
which it was most needful that they should now be fully instructed,
that they
might teach others (ch. 20:25).
The Risen Jesus (v. 3)
“To whom He also showed Himself alive after His passion by
many proofs,
appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and
speaking the things
concerning the
Ø
Prepared and trained for the work. Not shown to all, but to
those who
could look at the miracle in its
spiritual aspect, who could see the
fulfillment of God’s Word.
Ø
The certain knowledge of Christ’s resurrection a
solemn responsibility
which all were not able to bear.
“Nothing secret but that it may come
abroad. Not to the wise of this
world, who know not how to use Divine
secrets, but to the babes in
disposition, simple, humble, self-forgetful,
waiting on God.
Ø
The main work of Christ’s servants is witnessing, not theorizing;
not
building up ecclesiastical
structures; not seeking dominion over the
faith of others; but “showing
forth” the great facts. Our, preaching
should be of the nature of witnessing.
“Add to our seal that God is true.
Although apostles had distinct duties as
leaders and founders of the
visible Church, they share with all the Lord’s
people the office of
witnesses. “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.” See to
it that we
speak as those who “know
the certainty of the things.”
see v. 3); that is, beyond all reasonable doubt. We must build on a
foundation of fact and
testimony. Our first teachers must be those who
could say that they had tasted,
handled, felt of the Word of Life (I John
1:1-4). Now the proofs were:
Ø
Appearances of the risen Jesus, thirteen in number, in various
circumstances, to different
kinds of witnesses, and with amply
sufficient tests of reality.
Ø
Coincidence of the facts with-the words of our Lord Himself and
the promises of the Old Testament.
Ø
Distinction of the signs and proofs of the Resurrection from any other
facts; from the possible
misapprehensions or illusions of disciples. It
was unexpected; proved against
unbelief; with growing assurance;
and with concurrence of many
sincere and faithful men who knew
their responsibility as
witnesses.
Ø
Jesus showed Himself alive after His resurrection. The fact to which
apostles testified was not the
mystery of the Resurrection itself, but the
simple fact that Jesus was
alive. No one saw Him rise, but they saw
Him after He was risen. They
might mistake what occurred at the
sepulcher; they could make no
mistake in talking with a living man,
handling Him, eating with Him,
and that for forty days and on many
occasions, in one another’s
presence. Necessity that we should set the
proof of the Resurrection and
risen life of Jesus first and foremost in
our defense of Christianity. It
is the key-stone of the arch.
forty days and their influence
on the first disciples, and through them on all
future ages.
Ø
The personal presence
of Jesus lifted up into a more glorious fact. The
infirmities
gone. The fact of his victory shining in his face. The
influence
of His condescension; the risen Jesus still the Friend and
Companion
of His people. The expectation of His return to heaven:
“I
ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God”
(John
20:17). The effect on Thomas: “My Lord and my
God!” The
necessity
that disciples should cease to “know Christ after the flesh.”
Henceforth
they felt His presence spiritually.
Ø
Forty days of special
instruction “concerning the
The history which follows corrects the view sometimes put forward
that the risen Savior imparted to His apostles any body of ecclesiastical
laws. Had they received them they would certainly have referred to
them. He spoke of the kingdom itself, which is not meat and drink,
not external ordinances and regulations, not creeds and shibboleths;
but “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” He called
to remembrance what he had preached. He opened their understandings
to the meaning of the Old Testament. He corrected their worldly views.
He showed them the relation of the gospel facts to the kingdom; that is,
that He could
reign by the power of these facts. “The Messiah ought to
suffer,
and to enter into His glory.” He led them back to
new faith before he took them to Olivet. Jesus was a Teacher to the last.
He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. (John 14:6)
The World’s Supreme Question to the Front
(v. 3)
“Speaking of the things pertaining to the
hands, in these words, the key, not of a brief section of
this chapter and this
book alone, but rather of a very long stretch of time, and
an immensely
important and absorbingly interesting stretch of the
world’s history.
Matters of the deepest and most touching individual
interest, like all the
charming incident of the four Gospels, must yield, we are
here tacitly
reminded — yield both in time and in high equity also — to
those of
collective, of national, of universal interest. All the
capacity of Old
Testament history, abounding in monographs of thrilling
human import,
long led the way onward to this development. And now it
might be said the
crisis had arrived. All that even Jesus Himself had done
and taught before
“His passion” is to be called only a beginning. He
had done, indeed,
unnumbered benefits to unnumbered persons. He had taught
unnumbered
lessons of wisdom and goodness to unnumbered persons. And
He had been
a light, a wonder, a glory, to a nation. But now, after hHis passion and
resurrection, on to His ascension, His work shows as though
cast in larger
mold. Its character speaks comprehension beyond what it
formerly did.
And this is its simple, grand, motto — “the things pertaining to the
ONE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF THE WORLD. Henceforth the
question that shall be to the
front for the whole world is “the kingdom of
God.” The
identities. But they stand in
most real correlation. The just analogy of the
relation that holds between them
is that of the perfect type, the original
model to the faithful copy — a
copy ever realizing greater faithfulness of
resemblance. For this supreme
installation, now come with so little of
ceremony, at so unexpected a
time, in so unexpected and modest a way,
the world had waited thousands
of years, while “kings and prophets” had
been on the watch-tower. These
had died with “hope deferred,” but in
many cases with faith never
stronger than in that dying hour. But further,
during the last thirty-three
years, since in strangest consent a heavenly band
of angels, and certain shepherds,
and certain “wise men of the East,” and a
certain very unwise king, Herod,
struck to the heart cowardly, had seemed
to set them going, wave after
wave of excited expectation and of suspense
had swayed to and fro the hearts
of multitudes. The expectation and the
suspense were just now put to
rest, and it should be a satisfied rest, for
“this time,” to be soon superseded by an untold period of hard work and
severe conflict. During the past
thirty-three years, this kingdom had been
foreshadowed among a thousand
things “done” and “taught” that seemed
of nearer import, by:
Ø
The distinct preaching
of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1) and of
Jesus Christ Himself (ibid. 4:17).
Ø
The introduction of it
into the model prayer taught by Jesus to His
disciples, “Thy
kingdom come Thine is the kingdom.”
Ø
The many parables of
Jesus, of which “the
kingdom of heaven” was the subject.
Ø
The missionary tours
of the twelve disciples (Matthew 10:7-8) and
of the seventy, (Luke
10:9).
Ø
The detached observations
made by Jesus, having the kingdom as their
subject (Luke 17:20; John
18:33-37). But now, during so special a
period as the forty days, this
subject — “the things pertaining to the
discriminating theme of Christ’s
discourse and instruction to the
apostles. The inference is
plain.
MOST ARDUOUS WORK, MOST ENNOBLING PRIVILEGE, MOST
TREMENDOUS RESPONSIBILITY, WERE DEVOLVED ON HUMAN
AGENTS. And two things
are specially to be noted at this amazing
juncture.
Ø
The carrying on
of the work of Christ on earth, in the establishing and
propagating of
the
know nothing like all which
Jesus said to His apostles during these “forty
days.” Probably we do not know even all the occasions on which He
appeared to them and instructed
them. But there can be no doubt that there
was one reason, and only one
chief reason, why the theme of Christ’s
conversation or discourse was
what we are here told it was. The reason
this, that the apostles should now be prepared, both in heart and
hand, to
undertake the lead of the great
work, as they had never before been
prepared, probably not even to
the conceiving of such a thing.
Ø
The carrying on of
that work, now devolved or about immediately to be
devolved on the servants by the
Master, is — for so we are irresistibly led
to conclude — not prescribed
too closely, is not provided for in anything
approaching literal detail.
Christ spoke of “the things
pertaining to” the
principles were imparted — possibly enough information savoring of the
character of revelation. These would be lighted
up and warmed by the
presence of gracious promise and
stirring glimpses of the above and of the
future. Yet, all as inevitably,
one is impressed with the conviction that
even that poor earthly judgment
of those poor earthly men, who had so
often slipped and failed even
under the eye of the Master, was not
fettered, hampered, overpowered
by the severity of binding detail.
We seem to see Jesus doing at
that germinal time what the history
of the Church clearly enough
shows He ever has done since, throwing
Himself and His own expensive
work and grand sacrifice alike on the
love and the judgment of
His servants! It is a marvelous thought of
work and honor devolved on men!
Nor could it be easy to find either
a more stirring or inspiring
stimulus both of love and of wisdom’s best
efforts. The conjunction of the
trust Christ offers to repose practically,
not on our hearts’ love alone,
but even on our fallible discretion,
illustrates the height of His
surpassing grace to us, in the very
gracefulness of the grace.
AND WISDOM THAT UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD BE
REQUIRED. He who “spake” to
loving disciples, friends, servants, and
who instructed them now, would
by the very act, often repeated before
“His passion,” but now (it is impossible to refrain from the word) with
increased sanctity after
His resurrection, ensure their memory, and their
grateful memory, of Himself.
These He would make His own — more surely
than the child hallows more and
more the memory of the father; more
surely than the pupil never
conquers, nor wishes nor tries to conquer, the
reverence he used to feel to a
teacher, whom he once pictured as possessed
of all knowledge. To Him who
gives the grace of conversion, we look
instinctively for that of
sanctification; as to those who give us life, we
instinctively, unconsciously
look for the support and rearing of that life.
“Lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world,” were words,
we may rest assured, not heard
exactly for the first time in the rapt
moments of the literal
Ascension! We are also immediately informed that
Christ emphatically directed His
disciples, now hanging on His lips, to look
for and wait for the Holy
Spirit, one of whose main offices was and ever is
to bring to remembrance the things already spoken by Christ. Until, then,
“God is all in
all,” and the mediatorial
reign of Christ is resigned, He is our
one Hope and
Trust. He is the Giver of light, knowledge, love. He is the
one only Head of
his Church. He the Savior and the King of men, who now
so
condescendingly “showed Himself alive” to the
apostles, “after His
passion, being seen of them forty days, and speaking
of the things
pertaining
to the
4 “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them
that
they should not
depart from
the Father,
which, saith He, ye have heard of me.” He charged
them not to
depart for commanded
them that they should not
depart, Authorized Version;
to wait for wait, Authorized
Version; said He for saith He, Authorized
Version;
from me for of me, Authorized
Version.
Being assembled, etc. (Received Text.
on, its μετ'αὐτῶν – met’auton – with
them); more exactly, as He was assembling
with them. Not to depart from Jerusalem. (See Luke 24:49.) It was necessary,
according to the prophecy, Micah 4:2; Isaiah 2:3, that the gospel should go forth
from
Father formed the
subject of our Lord’s discourse to the
apostles on the last night
of His earthly life, as
recorded in John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-14. He doubtless
here refers to
that conversation, though not, of course, to the record of it in the
Gospel of John.
The Supreme Promise to the Church (v. 4)
“Commanded them that they should… wait for the promise of
the Father.”
The exact designation here employed to describe the gift,
and the special
gift, of the Holy Ghost — namely, “the promise of the Father” — is
confined to the writing of
Luke; as it were, the outcome of his
assiduous memory. In the Gospel (Luke 24:49) he remembers
it to
quote it, in its completest
precision: “Behold, I send the promise of my
Father upon you.”
These are the two occasions of the occurrence of this
expression in Scripture. Other portions of Scripture,
however, concerned
with the same grand subject, are quite in harmony with
these two picked
expressions. They may possibly all date in the first
instance from the words
of the Prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-29). But we most thankfully
accept the
reminding words of Jesus, as here distinctly quoted, “which
ye have heard
of me,” as good
for asserting the independent choice of the designation by
an original authority. When thus viewed, it will exceed in
value the words
of the prophet, though treasured long, if not in grateful,
yet in hopeful
memory. We have here:
THE HOLY SPIRIT, UNDER THE TITLE OF “THE PROMISE OF
THE FATHER.”
Ø
This title maintains
consistently the strict fidelity of revelation. The
uniform representation of
Scripture sets forth everything good
as
originating with
the Father. He is the Source.
He is the Beginning.
Whatsoever comes even nearest of
all to Him, is still but “in the
beginning with Him.” He
is the “Giver of every good and perfect gift”
(James 1:17) of the glorious
array of gift that ranks the brightest among
its treasures, beyond comparison
the brightest, Jesus Christ, “the
Son
of the Father” and the Savior of
the world, and the Holy Spirit,
“the promise of
the Father,” and the Regenerator and Sanctifier
of human hearts. “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift”
(II Corinthians 9:15), the fit
refrain of ten thousand songs — songs of
life, of light, of warmth, of love, of reason, of memory, of
imagination,
of hope, of beauty, of
joy — is nevertheless heard, first of all, in its
fullest tones, in its richest
strains, as the refrain of those songs, that
celebrate the gift of Jesus to a once prostrate
world, and the “promise
of the Father” to that same world just begun to lift its head, and gasp
for pure air, and to beg for a little light,
and a little love and hope.
To that doubting prayer of a
world crushed
under sin and darkness so
long, and wrung from it by the bitterness of its effectual
woe, how
large the answer that came down
wrapped in the “promise of the
Father”
and within the narrower limits
of Christ’s own testimony respecting
the Holy Spirit, this title
preserves the harmony of Scripture.
o
“The Father… shall
give you another Comforter” (John 14:16);
o
“The Father will
send… the Comforter, the Holy Ghost”
(John 14:26);
o
“The Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father”
(John 15:26).
We
may notice these testimonies of Christ the more observantly,
because they grow up lovingly
tangled among allusions to His own
relations to the Spirit, and to
the “sending” of Him. Of which more
follows immediately.
Ø
The title is one that
specially honors the Father. Taking into account the
exact juncture, it may perhaps
be viewed as intentionally an almost final
act for the days of Christ’s
tarrying on earth, of honor, of obedience, of
the reverent love of a true,
sublime Sonship on the part of Christ toward
God the Father. Only the day
before His crucifixion had Christ spoken
with some fullness and in some
detail of His own relation to the Spirit.
That relation must be a very
close one, to answer correctly to the
things which Jesus then said and
implied as well. For instance:
o
“I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another
Comforter” (John 14:16);
o
“The Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my Name”
(John
15:26);
o
“The Comforter… whom I will send unto you
from the Father”
(John
15:26);
o
“If I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you. But
if I depart, I will send Him unto you”
(John 16:7);
o
“The Spirit of
truth… shall glorify me; for He
shall receive
of
mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:13-14).
Not
in the whole body of these sayings of Christ is there, indeed,
anything
that trenches upon the rights of the Father; yet now
the great original Promiser is justly brought, and is as it were finally
left by Christ in the place of
first majesty and prominence.
Ø
The title offers, for
all devout and reverent thought, to link together that
present, which ever seems so
prosaic, so unmemorable with hallowed
antiquity, with the sacredness
of the past, with the legitimate
enchantment of distance. The promise
reminds (and in this case most
plainly) of the Promiser. And this Promiser
of ages past, long waited
for, not seldom distrusted,
sometimes despaired of, is now in a moment
or two going to be manifested —
the faithful Promiser. He is none other
than the Father
everlasting! Promise adds preciousness
to bestowment
in several ways — in the very tension
of the moral nature which it
challenges, in the mutual keeping hold of
hands (all the while that
the promise subsists), of promiser and promisee, in
the educatory
processes of varied sort that
are sure to be transpiring during all the
same interval, and, in a word,
in the preparation of the receiver for the
thing prepared for him, as well
as in his final supreme gratification
on receiving it. But come this
time, the “forecasting of the years” past,
“the reaching of the hand
through time to catch the far-off interest of
tears” over, and the blank days
that have been yield to the dawn of
radiance itself. So sang Moses,
when now at last he saw the land,
“the promise of
the Father “
“My
Father’s hope! my childhood’s dream!
The
promise from on high!
Long
waited for! its glories beam
Now when
my death is nigh.
“My death
is come, but not decay;
Nor eye
nor mind is dim;
The keenness
of youth’s vigorous day
Thrills in
each nerve and limb.
“Blest
scene! thrice welcome after toil —
If no
deceit I view;
Oh, might
my lips but press the soil,
And prove
the vision true!”
(J. H. Newman.)
And so, in higher strain, chants
the apostle: “Faithful is He who hath
promised, who also will do it”
Ø
The title offers in a
fresh form, to the sensitive, impressible disposition
of true discipleship, a pathetic
suggestion of the nearness and the
continuing purpose and the watching
grace of the Father. ‘Tis all
covered by the word promise.
For a promise must be of something
welcome and wished for. A
promise has no part nor lot with a threat.
The only question that lies at
the door of promise is the anxious one,
as to faithfulness; that
assured, the prospect must be a grateful one.
So one chosen word, an opportune
name, a kindly expression,
becomes a suggestion,
fruitful and full of fruitfulness. “The promise
of the Father” must ever be the “Comforter” of the Church.
THAT DESCENT, OR “BAPTISM,” OF THE HOLY GHOST WHICH
WOULD CONSTITUTE THE FULFILMENT OF PROMISE. It is not
necessary to linger over the
fact that
“baptism with the
Holy Ghost,” and the geographical point
of departure for
the new heralds of “the
land; it was the shrine in a
shrine. It had been the ecclesiastical gathering
place of the elect people for
centuries upon centuries, and divinely
appointed such. But now, if ever
work was to date from place, the work of
Christ might well begin from the
place where He suffered, and the glory of
the dispensation of His Spirit
be manifested where had been first the
manifestation of His soul’s sore
“trouble,”
and His humiliation unto death!
This, the first crown after the
cross! But other suggestions, of more
intrinsic importance, arise out
of this command.
Ø
The command, by
preventing the separation and dispersion of the
apostles, prepared the way for a
manifestation which, if viewed merely
as a phenomenon, must have been
unsurpassed in the experience of the
people, whether those who saw it
or those who felt it as well. No amount
of depth of conviction, no
amount of consequent real stir, could be
wondered at after such a scene,
or the credible report of it only. The
impression and the effect must
have been justly tremendous then and
there. Could we give ourselves
leave to imagine for one moment a
reproduction of that scene in
the modern world’s metropolis, we know
that, taking into consideration
the scale of modern thought, the character
and variety and tenacity of
modem skepticism, and the wonderfully
advanced means of modern
communication, nothing short of the genuine
turning upside down of “the
world” might be expected to be the result.
The atheist, the rationalist,
the materialist, the mere scientist, would
have a hard task before them,
and would have hard work to escape the
administration prompt of lynch
law, as it were! There were, of course,
the greatest ends to be secured
by that extraordinary demonstration
proportionate to the time of
day, and guarded from effects that would
be absolutely appalling through
their forcibleness.
o
That demonstration of
the Spirit would be forever memorable in
the
thought and religious life of each individual who experienced
it.
o
Also its value would
be greatly enhanced in the mutual witness,
which
was so striking a feature of it. No hour, no moment, was
wasted
(as after the Resurrection) by any attempt called for on
the
part of one disciple to persuade or to inform another. All:
§
saw,
§
felt,
§
believed, and
§
were divinely
elated.
o
It irresistibly
secured a wide, varied, distant circulation, at a time
when
this was a thing difficult to attain.
Ø
The command prevented
apostles and disciples separating and dispersing
to attempt in an individual,
fitful manner their great Master’s work. They
are to await one
united baptism — to have one distinct,
impartial
impression made upon them and
commission entrusted to them. From the
first a very needed idea was
offered to them, that they were not to air
their individualities, but to
lose self in one glorious congregation.
Ø The command scoured, on the very merits of the case, the proper
preparation of the apostles for
their work. Not only will they now not
go forth in their own individual strength and pride, but not in human
strength and
pride at all. They are all to be
baptized, and with such a
force as the Holy Spirit! His life, His light, His love, His tongue, are
to be theirs. As with Jesus’ spoken charge to “the twelve,” and again
to “the seventy,” under each
permanent or temporary item of direction
lay this one principle, that
they were to go forth in the strength of a
Stronger than man, so in this acted
charge, this marvel of a demonstration
of the Spirit, the same
root-principle is conveyed, be it said, with a
thousand-fold impressiveness. Not one atom of Christ’s work must
they touch in their
own strength, nor begin it presumptuously before
they are sufficiently equipped
— panoplied by the Word and
the Spirit.
That lesson has gone, is going,
must go down through all time, and all
succeeding generations and
portions of the Church. Nor is it the least
of important lessons being at this
very time taught us, by methods often
most painful, most humiliating
but most healthful, that the work of
Christ prospers with the man, with the Church, with the
age, which
is most thoroughly
characterized by a profound trust, and effectual,
fervent
invocation of the Holy Spirit.
5 “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be
baptized with
the Holy Ghost
not many days hence.” Indeed for truly, Authorized
Version.
Ye shall be
baptized, etc. (Compare Matthew 3:11;
Luke 3:16; John 1:33.)
Peter refers to this
saying of the Lord’s in his address to the Church of Jerusalem
(ch. 11:16), and the record of it
here may be an indication that Luke derived
his information of these early events from Peter. A curious
question arises
as to the baptism of the apostles themselves. When were
they baptized, and
by whom? Chrysostom says, “They
were baptized by John.” But it is
evident, from John 3:22; 4:1-2, that converts were baptized
with
Christian, as distinct from John’s, baptism in our Lord’s
lifetime, and hence
it may seem probable, especially considering that Paul was
baptized,
that the apostles may have been baptized by Christ (Bishop
Wordsworth
on John 4:2). If so, the baptism with the Holy Ghost at
Pentecost was
the complement of that baptism, not the substitute for it.
“In our case,”
says Chrysostom, “both (the
baptism of water and of the Spirit) take place
under one act, but then they were divided.”
The Dawn of the Gospel Day (vs. 1-5)
These verses form an introduction to the whole book. The risen
Christ is
the chief Object in view. The light which has been a lowly
light upon the
earth, is now about to ascend and take its place as the Sun
of Righteousness
in the heavens. From thence He will shine upon the earth —
first upon that part of the earth immediately below the
point of His ascent;
and from that, as a starting-place, from country to
country, till the whole
earth is enlightened. The Acts begins its narrative at
metropolis of
Again, we recognize the divinely chosen method, the
appointment of
apostolic witnesses and representatives, who heard the things which Jesus
“spake concerning the
commandment,” or commission, to preach and labor for the
spread of the
glad tidings of the kingdom. And then, further, in
these verses, the vital
distinction is set prominently forth between the
kingdom of this world — the indwelling presence and operation of
the
Holy Ghost, which is
represented as first in Jesus Himself, speaking in Him,
working in Him, promised by Him, and then as bestowed upon
the
messengers of the kingdom according to “the promise of
the Father,”
repeated by the Son. Thus the great fundamental lines of
the Book of the
Acts are laid down; the kingdom of the risen and glorified
Christ
proclaimed and spread through the world; chosen and
consecrated men the
representatives and ministers of the kingdom; baptism of
the Holy Ghost
the prerequisite for Christian work and achievement,
without which it must
not be attempted and cannot be accomplished.
The Forty Days after the Passion (vs. 1-5)
·
JESUS PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. In the work of God all
is continuous. As in nature there
is no pause, but in autumn we find the
new petiole or leaf-stalk
already formed when the old leaf is detached, so
in the
coming; and when He came, His life-work was a making ready to go.
Full of
blessing was the ministry of His
visible presence; fuller still was to be that of
the invisible Spirit. He must go
that the Spirit may come (John 16:7).
The progress is
ever from the visible and finite form TO THE ETERNAL
AND INFINITE
SPIRITUAL CONTENT!
Ø
Preparation by special instruction. (John 14:15;
15:12-17.) These
parting commands were charged
with the holiest unction; were breathed
forth in spiritual power, with
the deep earnestness and tenderness of a
Divine farewell. All His
commands are summed up in the great word
“love.” They were issued to a select band, and ever remain in the
select
keeping of the true Church.
Obedience to Christ is, in one word, the
unfolding of love in all
life-relations. Christian duties and graces are
but the various forms which
Divine love would stamp on conduct.
Ø By
manifestations era risen life. His appearances were firmly accredited
as real, says Luke, using, a
word not elsewhere found in the New
Testament denoting valid proof
(compare Luke 24:31, 39, 43). This firm
persuasion of the reality of the
Lord’s risen life is the inspiration of the
early Church; it cannot be
explained away without raising more difficult
problems. The appearances were
accompanied by appropriate activity. He
discoursed on these occasions,
and on the supreme theme, on religion, on
the
sake; its principle is
intelligence; its method is teaching. “Go and
teach”
is the great word of the risen One.
Ø
By a particular direction. The apostles were to
remain in
(Luke 24:49). Here were all the
conditions of unity provided for: place
and time and a common attitude
of soul. Spiritual force must be collected
in centers, that it may be
diffused through the body of the world.
·
THE CHURCH IN THE ATTITUDE OF WAITING.
Ø
It was for something definite — the
fulfillment of a Divine promise.
Promise attends all obedience;
and perhaps the highest blessings belong
to the patient attitude of the
soul, the unhaste of perfect confidence in
God. It was the promise of a
blessing foreshadowed in past experiences.
A baptism, therefore a revival
and refreshing from above like John
Baptist’s ministry; yet unlike
that in that it was to be more excellent.
Ø
There was something indefinite,
therefore, in the promise. A good not
yet tasted, and so not yet
conceivable. So is it with all coming good. We
know something of that to be
expected from past experiences of Divine
grace; but the “half
has not been told us.” The future is ideal, and
never exactly imitates the past;
while it rests upon the past and elicits
its meaning. Obey, trust,
wait this is a grand lesson of the
Christian
life which comes back to us from
this page.
6 “When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him,
saying,
Lord, wilt thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”
They therefore, when for
when they therefore, Authorized Version; Him for of
Him, Authorized
Version; dost thou for wilt thou, Authorized Version.; restore
for restore again, Authorized Version. Dost
thou at this time, etc.? It
appears
from Luke 19:11 and 24:21, as well as from other passages,
that the apostles
expected the
therefore, that, after the temporary extinction of this
hope by the Crucifixion,
it should revive with new force when they saw the Lord
alive after His passion.
They had doubtless too been thinking over the promise of
the baptism of the
Holy Spirit “not many
days hence.” Restore. (Compare restitution - ch. 3:21;
and see Matthew 17:11.)
7 “And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times
or the
seasons, which
the Father hath put in His own power.”
Times or seasons for the
times or the seasons, Authorized Version; set within
His own authority for put
in His own power, Authorized Version. It is not for
you to know, etc. The time of the end is
always spoken of as hidden (so
Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32; I Thessalonians 5:1-2; II Peter
3:10, etc.).
Times or seasons. Times with reference to duration, seasons with
reference
to fitness or opportunity. Which the Father. The
distinctive use of the word
“Father” here
agrees with our Lord’s saying in Mark 13:32, “Neither the Son,
but the Father.” Hath set within His own authority (ἐξουσίᾳ - exousia – power;
jurisdiction; authority). Hath
reserved under His own authority. Has established
by means of His own plenitude of power; “Hath put or kept
in His own power
(Authorized Version)
This last seems the best.
8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon
you: and ye shall
be witnesses unto me both in
Judaea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
When for after
that, Authorized Version; my witnesses for witnesses unto me,
Authorized Version and Textus Receptus; Samaria for in Samaria, Authorized
Version. Ye shall
receive power (δύναμιν – dunamin – power; ability); a word
specially used of the power of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 6:8).
(ch.
10:38);
(Ephesians 3:16);
My witnesses. This function of the apostles, to be witnesses of Christ,
is one
much insisted upon in Scripture. So we read in v. 22, “Of these
must one become
[‘be ordained,’ Authorized Version] a witness with us of his resurrection.”
So again in ch.10:40-42, “God… showed Him openly; not
to all the people, but
unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us.... And He commanded us to testify,”
etc. (see also vs. 39 and 42 of the same chapter; ch.13:31;
Luke 24:48; ch. 4:33;
22:15,18,20; 26:16; I Peter 5:1; I John 1:1-3).
Christ’s
The introduction to this narrative of “the things pertaining to the
suggests to us truths concerning the mission of our Divine
Lord
and also concerning
our own.
Ø
THE
Luke
that this was fourfold, and may be included under these heads:
Ø
Miraculous works. He “began to do” (v.
1). The “mighty works” of
Jesus were far from being
mere “wonders:” they were
o
deeds of pure
beneficence,
o
acts called for by the
circumstances of the hour, malting an
irresistible
appeal to the heart of love and the hand of power,
o
illustrations of the
Divine principles which He came to establish,
as
well as
o
incidental proofs of heavenly origin and
almighty power.
Ø
Teaching. He began “both to do and teach” (v. 1).
The teaching of
Christ covered all the ground on
which we most urgently need
enlightenment. He taught us all
that we want to know concerning:
o
the nature and disposition of God, including His attitude
toward
guilty souls;
o
the real
nature of man, his true heritage and the way by
which
he could return to God;
o
what constitutes moral
excellency in God’s sight:
how
man can do and be that which is due to himself and
to
all by whom he is surrounded;
o
the truth respecting the future world.
Ø
Endurance. The story of “His passion” (ver.
3) is the story of His life.
In
the case of all other of the children of men, the narrative of the last
hours
is felt to be but the necessary closing of the chapter. In His case
alone
the relation of the Passion is felt by us all to be the supreme and
culminating
point the one indispensable feature of His whole career;
that
to which everything led up, for which everything prepared,
compared
with which everything else was unimportant. Never, at any
period
of His ministry, did the Son of God so truly and so largely
fulfill
the mission on which He came, as when He was “putting
away
sin by
the sacrifice of himself,” (Hebrews 9:26) as when He
was betrayed and smitten and reviled,
as when Hhe was “lifted up”
on the cross and “poured
out his soul unto death.” (Isaiah 53:12)
Ø
Life. He came to
be the holy, loving, patient, truthful, reverent One He
was. The historian does not
speak here of this, His exemplary life before
His Passion, but we may have it
in our mind as a complementary thought;
Luke does, however, refer to His
life after the Passion (v. 3). This is
divisible into two parts.
o
The forty days on
earth. Then He bore witness to the
reality of
His
work and the genuineness of His mission: He “showed
himself alive… by many infallible proofs.”
o
Everlasting life in
heaven. He is now doing the work of
administration.
“Jesus
began both to do and to teach”
when
He was below; He continues now the great work He
then
began. As He arrested Paul on his way to
and
charged him to enter His service, as He inspired and
directed
His servants so that the “acts of the apostles”
are
His
acts through them; so now He is
administering
the affairs of His blessed kingdom by enlightening,
inspiring, governing His Church by His
Spirit (see v. 2).
service which it belongs to us
to render. We are:
Ø
To look expectantly. We too are to “wait for the promise of the Father”
(v. 4); often in our Christian
life, from its very beginning to its very end,
asking and waiting. We
are to ask, to seek, to knock — if need be, again
and again; not impatient to
receive, but remembering that God knows
when as well as
how to bestow.
Ø
To receive gratefully. We too “shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost”
(v. 5, and see v. 8). God will
come to us in rich effusion if only we ask
earnestly and wait patiently;
then we shall receive joyfully, and our
hearts will fill with sacred and
happy gratitude.
Ø
To submit cheerfully. Our Lord ofttimes says to us, “It is not for you to
know” (v. 7). We long to know many things not revealed, and this
is His
reply to our vain curiosity. Or
we long to effect impossible things, and
then He says to us, “It is not for you
to do.” He imposes limits to our
action as well as to our
knowledge, and within these bounds we must
be content to move, rejoicing that we are permitted to know anything
of Him and do anything for Him; rejoicing, also, to believe that
soon
the circle of understanding and
accomplishment will be immeasurably
enlarged.
Ø
To testify faithfully. “Ye shall be
witnesses unto me” (v. 8). It was a
far higher function for the
apostles to bear witness to Christ — to the
greatness of His
person, the beauty and tenderness of His spirit, the
fullness and joy
of His salvation — than to be the
depositaries of
heavenly secrets as to dates and
places. There is nothing we should
so earnestly aspire and so
strenuously strive to become, as faithful
witnesses of Jesus Christ. We cannot conceive of a nobler work than
to be, by life and
lip, bearing
testimony to Him, constraining our
fellow men to
realize:
o
His readiness to
receive,
o
His willingness
to forgive, and
o
His power to
bless and to ennoble them.
Last Words (vs. 6-8)
and hope stirs in the disciples minds. The present oppresses; we
seek
escape into dreams of a happy
past or future. There is an clement of truth
and of illusion in these cravings.
David’s throne. It was a fixed
idea, and here reappears. So have we all our
fixed ideas, and cannot
conceive a happy future out of their sphere. But
God’s unfolding
realities prove better than our sensuous
dreams.
FUTURE.
Ø No fixed
knowledge of the future, its changes, and those epochs, can be
ours. With all our science we cannot touch the beginnings,
therefore not
the issues, of things. History
is a Divine poem, and God does not permit
us to guess at the climax or catastrophe of
events. The unexpected
happens, and
unrolling page from day to day,
and subdue our wishes to the actual,
rather than measure the actual
by our wishes.
Ø
Strength for the future is enough, and this may be ours. Power, inner
power, spiritual power, in other
words, a full and vigorous life-
consciousness, is what we need.
This is promised. But not if we are
seeking sensual and selfish
ends. Power is imparted for God’s ends.
Only on condition that we are
given up to God’s will can we work for
God’s ends, or enjoy the power
thereto. The laws of the kingdom are
as strict as any we learn from
nature. The narrowing of Divine thoughts
to our own petty notions of
advantage means desertion and weakness;
the inclusion of our purposes
within the infinite purpose means strength.
All true life-acting may be
regarded as witness. Each man stands for
some principle, expresses some
leading thought in his action. What
do we represent? What tale does
our life tell from day to day? What
negative or what positive is it
that our individual life makes clear in
the scheme of things? (Jesus
said, “He that is not with me is against
me! – Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23) The pessimism of unbelief
or the optimism of profound faith
in the laws of God’s world? To
witness for the
eternal Truth and Love gives joy and zest to existence;
to have no report or message to
bring to others of aught felt or tasted
of the good of life is vacancy
and sadness. The Christian witness is
above all of the life of which
mere words are a poor transcript. If in
some way or other our life
clearly affirms the goodness of God by
reflecting Him, this is witness
for Him. And the ways of witness are
manifold as the glory of the
stars, the colors and forms of the flowers.
There are special testimonies to
special facts or truths which have
their place and season and no
other; but in all places and times the
whole life-witness silently
tells. The “living epistle” is intelligible
in every tongue and to all
orders of minds. (II Corinthians 3:2)
Craving for Forbidden Knowledge —
Its Alterative, Enlarged, Practical Trust (vs. 6-8)
“They asked of Him saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time…
the earth?” The
question of the apostles of which Luke here tells us we do
not find
either in his Gospel or in that of any of the other
evangelists, one among
many indications of the probability that during “the
forty days” much may
have transpired between Christ and His apostles not left on
record. It may
nevertheless be noted, in passing, that the incident
happens to be in
interesting analogy with such another as that of which we
read in John
21:20-23. And except for the fact that it is not put
down to the account of
Peter, we might probably be pardoned for surmising that it
was he again
who was the prime mover in it. We have here:
FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE.
Ø
Whoever may have
promoted the question, “Lord, wilt thou at this time
restore the
kingdom to
admitting its very natural
character. Nor is it at all necessary to affix too
mean a construction to the
motive of the apostles. Let it be granted only
that their mind was not
thoroughly delivered from the idea of a “kingdom
of
their chief thought or wish was
to a “
than “of heaven” or “of God.”
Ø
And as the question
was not an unnatural one in itself, so also it was one
that bears the traces of that
deeper impression which had been most
legitimately made on the
apostles by the marvels of the death and
resurrection of Jesus. Whatever
might be in store or might not be in store
for them in this matter of the
long-cherished hope of a kingdom, their
conviction was stronger and
stronger grown that Jesus was One who
could do this thing, who could be the Founder of such a kingdom,
and
establish it on no doubtful, hazardous, merely adventurous sort of
footing,
but worthily,
strongly, and for ever. If other miracles were for a sign of
His authority,
and for a grand moral witness of Him, this yet more than
all else whatsoever: His own death issuing in resurrection! The
space
of one moment may have awakened again and ripened the impulse to
dwell with a fascinated interest on this subject — the moment that in
which “these sayings sank down
into their ears,” namely, that “they
should not depart from
the promise of
the Father,” and that they should
“be
baptized with
the Holy Ghost not
many days hence.”
o
Nevertheless the issue,
if nothing else, convicts the question of
being
the wrong one. How often the things that are abundantly
natural,
and to which the warmest impulses seem made to lead
us
on, are for all that the forbidden — forbidden, perhaps, by
Divine
word of mouth even, otherwise by deeper sense in our
own
self and life! Christ apprizes His interrogators that on the
merits
of the case, not on any mere ceremony, the subject was
one too high for them — “they
cannot attain to it.” It is for us
to remember at the present time
that nothing that we know is
plainer than the some things we
do not know, in matters of
religious thought and
speculation, that these “some” things
which we do not know are often
of the most intense
speculative interest, are at the
same time things not in the
position of the not clearly “revealed,” but
of the clearly not
“revealed,” and that the more than likely reason for this is,
that they are too
high for human reason at present, and
are
kept for “yet the little while” of
earth, “in
the Father’s
power.” Let it,
however, be granted that there may be other
things left unrevealed, which rightly and designedly keep awake
the intense speculative thought of the whole Church. They
challenge not the
presumptuousness, but the reverent
diligence,
of the Church’s
intellectual life.
o
At a moment of
confessed intense practical significance, the
question
of the disciples was the suggestion of a departure to an
inopportune
subject. In instances of far inferior magnitude how
certain
it is that we should remark upon the untimeliness of
the
interruption
that broke in upon some supreme crisis of one kind
with
matter possibly quite foreign to it!
o
Any way, the question looked
too much in the direction of the
old
oft-reproved thing — of hankering for the form, the show,
the
handling of dignity and superiority and authority, not of the
intrinsic
but of the unreal kind.
o
The condescending
familiarity of the Savior should not have
hidden
for so much as a moment from the apostles reverence,
or
from their quickened apprehensions as to the nature of their
Master,
the interval that was between Him and themselves.
There
can be no doubt that they had learned this, that the seed
of
conviction and godly impression had not fallen on trodden,
impracticable
soil, and that their opportunity of intelligent
appreciation of Christ had been
increased a thousand-fold.
Therefore the time — all the
time — was what courted the
attitude of adoring waiting and
most heedful listening, rather
than of suggesting the course in
which such a Master’s
instructions, such a Lord’s vouchsafings, should go. The
language of a prophet better
suited it: “The Lord is in His
holy temple: let
all… keep silence before him!” (Habakkuk
2:20)
KNOWLEDGE CRAVED,
Christ at once replies in language that we in
modern times, at all events,
would feel to be very emphatic: “It is not for
you to know times
and seasons, which the Father hath placed in his own
power.” Notice:
Ø
The freedom of this
direct denial from asperity. If positive, it is not
arbitrary; if severe in its strictness,
it is not harsh; if decisive, it is not
uncourteous or ungracious.
Ø
The loftiness, on the
contrary, of the reason implicitly contained in the
denial. The knowledge begged is
not withheld as so much punishment or
rebuke. It is withheld in this
light, that it is not a thing of man, but of the
Father — possibly Christ might
still mean of the Father alone (Mark
13:32). But we cannot affirm
this with any strong conviction, as He now
speaks subsequently to His
resurrection. Now, not the most sensitive
disciple-temperament could have
need to feel wounded at not sharing
knowledge affirmed to belong
either exclusively or all but exclusively
to the supreme Father.
is the method of Divine wisdom
and kindness! How often the analogy of
providence illustrates it, in
the individual life. So rooted is it in the spirit of
Christ’s encouraging and bracing
doctrine, “Ask, and ye shall have,” that
even when we ask amiss we very
often do have something, and have
something that we might have
missed of had we not asked at all. So much
does heavenly care appraise a
hungering nature, an open mind, a craving
heart, if it be anything at all
within the compass of a right outlook that our
desires go forth. And while the
new gift is not what we asked, how sure it
is to prove
itself very superior in kind, and in
its being the correctly
adapted gift!
Ø
The substitute now
proffered to the anticipation of the interrogators
consists in an early and immense
accession of power.
o
It is real power.
o
It is power
guaranteeing at one and the same time holiness to
self
and usefulness to others.
Ø
The substitute both
illustrated and was the outcome of very noteworthy
principles.
o
The principle of
diverting mere speculative thought, or
sentimental
thought, or brooding, disheartened thought, by the
bracing
activity of work — work arduous and beneficent.
Wonderful
is the effectiveness of this corrective. It is an
alterative
safe, healthful, sure of compassing the desired end.
Nor
a whit less so in the light of one of the axioms of Jesus,
“He
that doeth,… shall know.”
o
The principle that the
servants of Christ are witnesses, not
prophets.
They are “hereunto called,” to witness to the world’s
ends,
and world without end. They are to be quite absolved, if,
being
faithful witnesses, they refrain from trying the wings of
prophecy.
In all directions, those of philosophy and of science,
as
well as of Christianity, human duty, human strength, human
advance,
lie rather in meditating and digesting the material
of memory than in attempting the
horoscope; in interpreting
the past for the edification and
helpful guidance of the present,
than in forecasting and
hazarding prediction. These last
tendencies nourish dogmatism,
for they bring forth what may
not be able to be disproved, though
it cannot be proved. And
they nourish
“lofty imaginations,” and “high thoughts,” and
luxurious
idleness, that consume the very time, when every
heart should be
humility and every hand should be industry.
Thanks to Jesus, still Master, Teacher, Friend
— fresh thanks
to Him from His modern
disciples, who, when earth and air
vibrate again with the shock and
the clash of discordant
theological polemics, still keeps
His own band faithful to
the memory of His own
commission, that they should be
“witnesses unto” Him throughout all the world!
9 “And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He
was
taken up; and a
cloud received Him out of their sight.” —
Said for spoken,
Authorized Version; as they were looking for while
they beheld, Authorized
Version They were to be αὐτόπται – autoptai - eye-witnesses (Luke
1:2), of
the Lord’s ascension,
and so it is particularly noted that He was taken as they
were looking. He did not disappear from their sight till He reached the
cloud
which enveloped Him.
10 “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went
up,
behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel;” Were
looking for looked,
Authorized Version; into for toward,; went for went up, Authorized
Version.
Two men. Luke describes them according to their appearance. They were really
angels. In like manner, in Joshua 5:13 we read, “There stood a man over against him;”
and in Genesis 18:2, 16; 19:10, 12, 16, we read of “the
men;” and in Judges 13:6,8,
10-11, of “the man of God;” the persons spoken of
in all these cases being angels
(compare Daniel 3:25; 8:15-16; 9:21, etc.; Zechariah 1:8,
10; Mark. 16:5;
Luke 24:4). Gabriel, too, means “man of God.” In white apparel, typical of
perfect holiness, and of the glory which belongs to the
inhabitants of heaven
(compare Daniel 10:5-6; Matthew 17:2; 28:3; Mark 9:3; 16:5;
Luke 24:4;
Revelation 7:9, 13; 3:5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; 19:8, etc.).
11 “Which also said, Ye men of
heaven? this same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in
like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
Looking for gazing
up, Authorized Version; this for this same, Authorized
Version;
was received for is taken,
Authorized Version; beheld Him going for have seen
Him go, Authorized
Version. In like manner; i.e.
in a cloud. The description of
our Lord’s second advent constantly makes mention of
clouds.
(Daniel
7:13; and Matthew 26:64; Luke 21:27, etc.).
We are reminded of the grand imagery of Psalm 104:3, “Who maketh the clouds
His chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind.” It may be remarked that
the above is by far the fullest account we have of the
ascension of our Lord.
Luke appears to have learned some further
particulars concerning it in the
interval between writing his Gospel (Luke 24:50-52)
and writing the Acts.
But allusions to the Ascension are frequent (Mark. 16:19; John 6:62; 20:17;
Romans 8:34; Ephesians 4:8-9; Philippians 2:9; Colossians 3:1; I Timothy
3:16; 1 Peter 3:22, etc.). With reference to Zeller’s
assertion, that in St.
Luke’s Gospel the
Ascension is represented as taking place on the day of
the Resurrection, it may freely be admitted that the
narrative in the Gospel
does not mark distinctly the interval of time between the
different
appearances and discourses of our Lord from the day of the
Resurrection
to that of the Ascension. It seems to group them according
to their logical
connection rather than according to their chronological
sequence, and to be
a general account of what Jesus said between the
Resurrection and the
Ascension. But there is nothing whatever in the text of
Luke to indicate
that what is related in the section 24:44-49 took place at
the same time as
the things related in the preceding verses. And when we
compare with that
section what is contained, here in vs. 4-5, it becomes
clear that it did not.
Because the words “assembling
together with them,” in v. 4, clearly
indicate a different occasion from the apparitions on the
day of the
Resurrection; and as the words in Luke 24:44-49 correspond
with
those in vs. 4-5, it must have been also on a different
occasion that
they were spoken. Again, the narrative of John, both in the
twentieth
and the twenty-first chapters, as well as that of Matthew
28:10, 16;
Mark 16:7, precludes the possibility of the Ascension
having taken
place, or having been thought to have taken place, on the
day of the
Resurrection, or for many days after, so that to force a
meaning upon the
last chapter of Luke’s Gospel which it does not necessarily
bear, and
which places it at variance with Luke’s own account in the
v.3; ch. 13:31,
and with the Church traditions as preserved by Matthew,
Mark and John,
is a violent and willful transaction.
The Uplifting of Jesus (vs. 9-11)
The evangelist employs two different words, both meaning “he
was taken
or lifted up” (vs. 2, 9).
·
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UPLIFTING. The human is raised into
the Divine. The body of
humiliation is translated into a form of glory.
Exaltation crowns self-abasement.
The self-emptied One for love’s sake
becomes the depository for all time of
DIVINE FULNESS. For our sake the
descent from heaven, and the
return thither still for our sake. Heaven woos
earth in the Incarnation, and in
the Ascension earth is wedded to
heaven
forever. It is the pledge of permanent intercourse and special
occasional
visitations from God to man. The
Ascension is the pole-star of our night!
·
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CLOUD. It was ever a symbol of
God. It veils, yet reveals;
hides, yet manifests Him. The definite ever passes
into the indefinite; the visible
form into the fainter symbol. Men may ask,
“Where is he who came and loved
our clay?” The answer is in the cloud-
symbol. As in its beauty we see it float between
heaven and earth, half-dense
and half-transparent with the
solar glory, we have the image of the
vanished Jesus in the world of
pious thought. He is the indefinable link
between the world of sense and
the super sensual. We cannot analyze the
truth. We see it, we feel it, by
the spiritual aesthesis; and this is better than
all definition.
·
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ANGELS’ WORDS. We gaze into
the mysterious
Divine beyond of our life. Our limited
horizon melts into the
Infinite. What was more knowable
than the living and loving Jesus of
broken, and the unutterable One
had uttered Himself in an articulate voice,
and the indefinable and
inimitable in form had clothed Himself in a form
recognizable by all. Yet now
this form melts again into the indefinable; this
voice ceases in a hush of
mystery restored. Well may we stand gazing into
the ether. Was the whole an
illusion? Not so; but what God has once
revealed remains a spiritual
possession for all time. And more; it is the
pledge that God will repeat the revelation. CHRIST WILL COME
AGAIN! The cloud will
reappear; out of the mystery voices will again be
heard, the express Image will
again stand clear for recognition. Here is a
Divine process; out of the
indefinable into the definable, back to the
indefinable again. Christ
appears to disappear, again to reappear; and so
“That
one Face, far from vanish, rather grows;
Becomes
our universe that feels and knows!”
Let us think that “every cloud
that veileth love itself is love.” In those
alternate revealings
and hidings of God from us lies the trial of faith,
more precious than gold.
Heavenward Gazing Recalled to Earthward
Watching (vs. 9-11)
“While they beheld, He was taken up… as ye have seen Him go
into
heaven.” The exact
aspect of the glories of the Ascension depicted here is
not found in any of the accounts of the evangelists. Happy
for us that
second thoughts were brought to Luke, and that we were not
left
without the beautiful and valuable suggestions that arise
from these verses!
The resurrection of Jesus Christ stamped the stamp of
undeniable royalty
upon His brow; round His brow the Ascension flung royalty’s
own golden
crown — a crown of unsurpassed worth and luster that is
unfading. Well
may we pause and ponder the brief recital of that marvel of
glorification.
Let us notice:
whatever is said of it in the
Gospel by John. In that by Matthew the
matter leads up to it, and
abruptly stops, omitting all description of the
great event itself. The language
of Mark is, “So then after the Lord had
spoken unto them,
he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right
hand of God.” The invisible world was for one moment opened to the
inspired vision of Mark, it
would seem, as afterwards to that of
Stephen. And the account of Luke
in his “former treatise” is, “And
he
led them out as
far as to Bethany, and he lifted up His hands, and blessed
them. And it came
to pass, while He blessed them, He was
parted from
them, and carried up into heaven.” (Luke
24:50-51) There are a detail and
an added touch, however, in the
passage before us very grateful to read:
“When He had
spoken these things, while they
beheld, He was taken up;
and a cloud received Him out
of their sight. And… they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as
He went up.” In the event itself, its
unadorned majesty is
the characteristic.
In the description, the own dignity of brevity is
pronounced. There is reason, as well
as sublimity of effect, in both the one and
the other of these things.
Simplicity and brevity obviate distraction, and
attention is fixed on the essentials.
So we see again the scene with no bodily
eye, it is true; men to the end of
time shall see again and again the scene, it is
true, with no bodily eye, but
with a spiritual distinctness and a vividness that
may leave nothing more to be
asked for that could, in the nature of things,
be given. Jesus does not die away
on mortal view, but he soars away from
mortal view, while the accents
of His voice are still in the ear, “speaking of
the things
pertaining to the
of the Father” in the gift of the Holy Ghost. And for what is seen it is
this:
He is borne in an unusual direction
— upward, clear in the eye of sense, till
“a cloud received Him;” and beyond that cloud, only clear where the eye of
faith pierces, He is seen “received up into heaven, and… on the
right hand
of God.” In this ascension, therefore, notice:
Ø
The visibleness of it, as compared, for instance, with the
departures,
whatever they were, of
Enoch and of Moses.
Ø
The deliberateness of
it, as compared, for instance, with the departure in
blaze and speed of Elijah. So
much to the contrary the manner of ascent
of Jesus, that in the all-brief
description before us there are nevertheless
contained as many as four verbal
indications of the distinctness of the
amazing phenomenon; e.g.
o
“while they beheld…
o
out of their sight…
o
while they looked steadfastly as He went up…
o
in like manner as ye have seen Him go.”
Ø
The number of
witnesses present to see whatever was to be seen.
Ø
Not a figment of an earthly
trace of Jesus after ascension alleged by foe,
not a fancy of it alleged by
friend, as compared, for instance, with such
things as we read in I Kings
18:12; Luke 4:1, and as might have
been conceivable.
thing betrays it and describes
it — their rapt upward gaze. Beneath this one
thing what wealth of suggestion
may lie! It is probable that the apostles
were forewarned of the coming
ascension of their Master; of His departure,
certainly. At all events
prophecy (Psalm 24:7-10; 68:18; Ephesians 4:8),
with which it is likely that
they were on their own account acquainted,
likelier that Jesus had made
them acquainted, had advised them
that the departure would be of
the nature of an ascension. Yet, judging
from the analogy of other
forewarnings, mercifully vouchsafed but little
improved (Luke 24:25-27, 44-46;
John 21:4-6), it is conceivable
that the moment found them now off their guard, and little prepared for the
consummate
event. Again, of the exact methods of
Christ’s departure from
His apostles and the women, and
others to whom He graciously revealed His
presence during the forty days,
we are not distinctly informed in each
several case. But in some we are
told simply that He “vanished” out of their
sight. (And someday will reappear just as suddenly – CY – 2016) Let it
be
supposed that this was the
method of His going in each case, and we may
guide ourselves to the
conclusion that at most the apostles imagined that
some one of the occasions of
their being blessed with the sight and the
voice of Him would inevitably
prove the last. But what a vision this
prepared for them! What a
transcendent “gift” even of itself! His “speaking”
suddenly but quietly ends. And
while all eyes are calmly, attentively, lovingly
turned upon the grace of His
countenance, “He was taken up.”
And so their
eyes also are lifted up, and
thoughts and affections. “A cloud” which receives
Him “out of their sight”
arrests their vision, but not their thoughts and
affections. They still look “steadfastly toward heaven,” and seem
lost in
wonder and in meditation. What
is it they are seeing, or, so far as they
retain the power to think, what
is it they think they see? What is it they
are experiencing while they
gaze?
Ø
This upward gaze was
their last earthly beholding of Jesus. One
wonders
not it was prolonged as much as possible. That last long look,
judging
from analogies of inferior matter, how was it wreathed all the
way
up with richest remembrances most vividly revived! Well indeed
might
it be so now, at all events. How fragrant crowd the flowers of
memory,
that nevertheless some while seem to mock our grief! They
accord
so ill, yet are so spontaneous; again seem to feed it, but fail not
at
length to help sanctify it, when our last earthly look has been taken
of
the companion we have so well loved and long time so cherished.
But
now, men’s eyes were being robbed of the
welcomed beholding
of a Friend of matchless power, and
matchless wisdom, and matchless
loving-kindness! That riveted gaze — who could have wondered had it
drunk
out forever the light of earthly eyes?
Ø
This upward gaze was
one that found elements of most impressive
contrast
with much of the apostles’ former knowledge of Christ. There
is
a great difference between the most thorough persuasion as to the
intrinsic
quality of some one whom we trust and love, who nevertheless
is
left lifelong in the cold shade of obscurity, and the cheerful light and
satisfaction
that make us proud sharers of the public success and the
popularity
and the manifestation of our idol. This latter portion Jesus
had
never sought. That He had never done so, nor shown the slightest
disposition
to do so, had been occasionally subject of remark and of
petulance
to some of even His faithful adherents. The Disciples of
Christ
had, as the overwhelming rule, seen His humiliation; and what
of
His intrinsic, most real glory they had been privileged to see, was
nevertheless
veiled with the garments of humiliation. They had seen
His
modest subjection, His calm, obedient observance of what was due
to
custom and religious rite, as in His baptism. They had seen His great
works,
His wise words, His holy life, His undeniable innocence, all
flouted
times without number, and yet no remedy, no fire from heaven,
no
thunderbolt, no conspicuous avenger, came to view. Then they had
seen
the garden struggle, the trial, the Crucifixion. And though they
had
seen the Transfiguration and the Resurrection, yet up to this present
time
what became even of these? He seems to take no visible, practical
benefit
from them. But what their eyes now see opens indeed their eyes!
One
could imagine that volumes of mist, dark masses of cloud, roll away;
the
obscurities and conflicting perplexities of some years “vanish,” and
count
themselves all for nothing. The steps of Jesus are no longer on
the
level, no longer down to submission more submitting; depression
is
no longer the rule. He rises! Upward is the word! Glory and the
realms
of air and light are His, and His mode of entrance upon these,
in
its very uniqueness, awakens fresh impulses of unfeigned
adoration.
It
is an illustration of how those who wait — wait even unto the end —
shall be “satisfied.”
Ø
This upward gaze was a
silent giving of themselves away at last. It made
a willing weaning for them. Now
have they done with “the things that are
seen,” and with self; and they have done with doubt and
uncertainty; and
they have done with the shadows
that are felt, in favor of the momentous
realities of which faith is
henceforth the trusted and sufficient custodian.
So it was no unfruitful gaze. It
was not a flash, to leave no permanent
effect. It left much more behind
it than a mere “glory on the soul.” It
was convincing evidence, irremovable
conviction; it was the kindling
of genuine adoration, and a
perennial spring of devotion.
ATTITUDE OF THE APOSTLES, AND AN APPARENTLY
INCONCLUSIVE REASON FOR IT, ON THE PART OF TWO MEN,
“WHO APPEARED IN WHITE APPAREL.” The “two men in white
apparel” were neither phantoms, creatures of the brain, nor
specters,
creatures of the air and
heavens. The expression, no doubt, designates
angels; it is likely enough such as had once been “men,”
such as Moses
and Elijah, or two “of the
prophets.” Their interruption, one must imagine,
must have been at first
unwelcome to the apostles. It seems so at first to
ourselves. We would have liked
to know what close the apostles would
have themselves put to their
rapt gazing heavenward, Nor is the necessity
or the expediency of the
interruption visible upon the surface. Yet we may
remark that:
Ø
We are, as it happens,
in ignorance of what might have been the effect
upon the spectators of the
glorious scene of the Ascension, but for this
interruption — the strickenness of a trance, for instance.
Ø
Intently excited
states of mind often answer to the corrective of the
mere
sound of the human voice, calmly addressed to them. Marvelous
instances
of this fact are furnished in the history of mental disease.
Ø
Genuinely exalted
feeling may “exalt above measure” (II Corinthians
12:7), and may need a prompt
simple treatment, to obviate the necessity
of future much more painful
treatment. The simple treatment now was
interruption, but with the
comforting assurance that the separation was
not absolute and forever, but
distinctly the contrary.
Ø
Very vivid experiences
of joy, of grief, or of an intricately mingled
character, while on the one hand
very prone to absorb undue attention for
the present, are at the same
time the very soil that abundantly rewards the
introduction of the seeds of
great aspects of the future. Nor could there
easily be found a more certain
example of this than in what is now before
us. It was of first-rate
importance that in the heart and mind of the first
teachers and preachers of
Christianity the second coming of Christ
should be closely
linked with his ascension. The
Christian individual
and the Christian Church may
never linger too long in the past. It is a
silent, wonderful testimony to
the vitality of Christ’s truth, and its spirit
of progress, wide as the world
and lasting as the world, that a
tremendous future career and
consummation are ever marked for
prominence. Side by side with the Ascension must the second descent
of Christ be kept. Therefore side by side were these great facts (so to say)
sown, in the apostolic heart. Further, that the
descending Christ would be
the same — i.e, one of glorified human body, as the cloud bore him a
minute or two ago out of human
sight — was a fact to be deeply
impressed upon the Church of all time.
And therefore, ab initio
(from
the
beginning), it is so impressed on the apostolic heart, while nothing
has yet occurred to efface from
them theconviction of the real body of
Jesus. The words of the “two
men in white apparel” are the words of
studied precision and emphasis. “This same
Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen
Him go into heaven.” We can be
left in no doubt that the interruption
was neither reckless nor
heartless. It was not to spoil the infinite
serenity, infinite solemnity,
infinite charm of moments, that with
the eye raised heart and soul to
heaven. Momentous doctrinal truth
was to be safely sealed and
impressed upon the Church’s mind. And
the choicest of Heaven’s seasons
must be ungrudgingly given and
unchurlishly accepted — a tribute to the importance of that truth;
a token, also, of another
noteworthy thing, that the Church was
infinitely dear to the heart of
her Lord at all time; nor that even the
purest joy of a few first
apostles shall be permitted to stand in the
light of the whole Church. In
this case there is not the atom of a
reason to think those apostles
would have asked it. They
breathe no murmur that their
delicious reverie was disturbed.
Ø
Last of all, under any
circumstances, heavenward gaze, contemplation,
seraphic vision, must be
exchanged a while for earth’s duty. That word
is sacred, that call is
sovereign. We must come down from the mount,
whether it be the Mount of
Beatitudes, or of Transfiguration, or of Olivet.
Prayer, praise, and those acts
of meditation and devotion that may be of
sublimest significance, are the nourishment of Christian life. It is
in “the
strength of such
meat” (I Kings 19:8) that we must live the present life,
and do the work
of the present days, and teach the “truth
as it is in
Jesus,” by living, humble example as well as by word. And we must
ourselves “wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,” “comforting
and edifying one
another (I Thessalonians 5:11) with
the words of the
“two men in white apparel.”
12 “Then returned they unto
which is from
Authorized Version; journey off for journey, Authorized
Version. Olivet,
from the Vulgate Olivetum.
The particular Greek form Ἐλαιῶν,
Elaeon, occurs in the New
Testament only here. In Luke 19:29; 21:37,
according to the Textus Receptus, and that
followed in the Revised Version,
it is Ἐλαιῶνος – Elaionos – Olivet, of Olives. But
as Luke usually has
τὸ ὄρος
τῶν Ἐλαιῶν - to oros ton Elainon - when he speaks
of it as
“the
it Elaeon, which is its name in
Josephus (‘Jud.
6), it seems probable that in Luke 19:29; 21:37, we ought
to read Ἐλαιῶν –
Elaion - Olivet. In the Old Testament, in II Samuel 15:30, it is “the
ascent of the
Olives” (Authorized Version, “the ascent
of
Zechariah 14:4, “the
i.e. six, or according to Schleusner,
seven and a half, furlongs (or two
thousand cubits). Josephus (‘Jud.
he only measured to the foot of the hill, whereas Luke
gives the
distance from the spot whence Christ ascended.
to John 11:18, was fifteen furlongs from
The Interval between the Ascension and
Pentecost (vs. 12)
·
THE SCENE IN THE UPPER ROOM. Obedient to the Lord’s
command, the disciples return to
probably in a private dwelling,
became the first Christian Church.
Epiphanius says that when Hadrian came to
desolate and but few houses
standing. This “little
however, remained; and Nicephorus says that the Empress Helena enclosed
it in her larger church. It was
probably the room in which the Supper had
been celebrated, and was to be
associated with the power of the risen, as it
had been with the suffering of
the humiliated, Christ.
Ø
The assembly. It represented all
varieties of character, gifts, and graces.
Peter the eager, John the
mystic, James the practical, Thomas the
skeptical, and others. The
feminine element, destined to play so
large a part in the life of the
Church, was also represented.
Ø
Its employment.
It was engaged in the highest exercise of
the spirit.
Prayer is action; as action may
be itself a prayer. And there are times
of waiting for all, when prayer
is the only possible action. The
transactions between the spirit
and God are the most real of all, and
are ever followed by significant
results. It was social prayer. True
prayer requires both solitude at
times and at times society. We need
the help of one another in the
pursuit of truth. Plato spoke of the
“joint striving of souls” in
philosophy. Common prayer is the
joint striving of souls to lay
hold upon the strength of God.
“I will not let
thee go, except thou bless me.” It was
persevering, continuous prayer,
as all exertion of the spirit must
be to attain worthy ends. Thus
was the mind of the Church calmed,
and its intelligence cleared for
insight into the business of the kingdom.
Ø
It rests on the past. He begins by pointing
to a fulfillment of Scripture.
The present event is thus
constantly identified in apostolic thought with
some word from the past. Nothing
befalls except by Divine law. And in
the words of poets and prophets
of the past, whatever their original
meaning, hints of other meanings
are to be found. All language is
indeed fossil poetry; and as in
the earth’s strata plants are found to
which living organisms
correspond, so in the realm of moral law past
and present are in inner and
profound connection. To the traitor
sketched in Psalm 69, (also 109.
and 55.) the features of the unhappy
Judas closely corresponded. False and wicked relations of conduct
repeat themselves in history,
and incur the like doom foreshadowed
by the prophetic consciousness.
Ø
It finds hints for present duty in the past. The fragment of a
verse from
a psalmist ran, “His office let another take.” Conduct must run on the
line of precedents. Often an old proverb or example may give us our
clue. A memory for the old sayings of Scripture and other ancient lore
may guide the judgment, or serve as a finger-post to the will. This might
run into superstition; as when men in the Middle Ages turned over
Virgil’s pages for a clue to decision in cases of perplexity. But in the
case of the apostles there is no reason to believe (but the contrary) that
their habit, in common with all the devout, of falling back on old
sayings checked the full and free exercise
of their independent judgment.
Ø
“Witnesses for Christ”
is perhaps the largest designation of the “office”
to be filled. An “apostle” is one sent — a man with a
mission; and the
mission is to witness. Of what? Above all of
the Resurrection; for it is
this which made the gospel a
power in the world. “Assurance is given
to all men” that Jesus was the
Son of God with power, and possesses
all the functions of majesty, by
the resurrection from the dead. We
can hardly conceive how the
gospel should have spread without this
testimony. Hence the importance
of the present business.
Ø
The mode of selection. It blends human
intelligence with the recognition
of Divine determination. The
call to any function proceeds from God,
and is contained in the gift or
capacity. Yet God requires us to cooperate
with Him through all the sphere
of freedom. The use of means towards a
decision does not exclude the
Divine wisdom, but reposes upon it. The
junction of the Divine and the
human will in such solemn acts is real,
though impossible to explain.
First, then, there is an exercise of human
judgment, and two distinguished
brethren are selected. Here the human
choice already recognizes the
Divine indication in the existence of
observed gifts and graces. Next
there is prayer, sacramentally sealing
the union of Divine with human
thought, and seeking a fruitful result.
Lastly, there is the casting of
lots, in which the human intelligence
confesses its inability for the
last decision, and surrenders itself
utterly to the guidance of God.
The lot falls on Matthias; and he
is “voted into” the company of
the eleven. Two extremes are to be
avoided in the crises of
affairs. One, to passively “leave everything
to God,” which really means to
excuse one’s self from the trouble or
thought. The other, to take the
whole burden of responsibility on
ourselves, which means to move
from our point of support. Thus we
topple over into weakness and
deeper uncertainty. Let faith be at the
root of all our thinking; the
scales of judgment stand firmly on the
Wisdom of God that works through
and in the activity of finite minds.
13 “And when they were come in, they went up into an upper
room,
where abode both
Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip,
and Thomas,
Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of
Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.”
The upper chamber for an
upper room, Authorized Version; where they were
abiding for where
abode, Authorized Version; son of James for brother of James,
Authorized Version. The
upper chamber; perhaps the
same room where they
had eaten the Passover with Christ (Luke 22:12); but this
is very uncertain,
though affirmed by Epiphanius,
and by Nicephorus, who further relates that
the very house in which the upper chamber was built into
the back part of the
temple which the Empress Helena erected on
is ὑπερῷον – huperoon – upper
chamber; over apartment, there it is ἀνώγεον –
anogeon – upper
room. The ὑπερῷον (Hebrew עֲליּהָ, II Kings 4:10-11) was
the room immediately under the roof; the ἀνώγεον was synonymous. Where
they were abiding. A slight change in the order of the
words, as adopted in
the text of the Revised Version, makes Peter and the other
apostles the
nominative case to the verb “went up,” instead of, as in the
Authorized Version, to “abode.”
In regard to the list of the apostles which
follows, it may be noticed first, that it is identical with
that of Luke 6:14-16,
except in the omission of Judas Iscariot and the order in
which the apostles are
named. The order in Luke seems to have followed that of
natural birth and
association. The brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and
John, are classed
together; Philip and Bartholomew, or Nathanael,
go together, and so on.
But in this list John follows Peter, his close companion in
missionary work
(here ch. 3:1, etc.; 4:13; 8:14);
James follows instead of preceding John;
and others are classed somewhat differently, for reasons
probably
analogous, but which we know not. Of the other lists that
in Mark 3:16-19
agrees most nearly with that before us. In all, Simon Peter
stands
first. The Jude of
Luke 6:16 (compare Jude 1:1) and here, is called
Thaddaeus in Matthew 10:3 (“ Lebbaeus whose
surname was Thaddaeus,”
Authorized
Version) and in Mark 3:18; but no doubt the persons are the
same. In all the lists Philip stands fifth. In three
Bartholomew is sixth, while
in the list in Acts his being named after Thomas makes him
seventh. In all
the lists James the son of Alphaeus
is ninth, and Judas Iscariot the last,
except in the Acts, where he is not named, being already
dead. The
underwritten columns give the four lists in one view:
Matthew 10:2-5 Mark
3:16-19
1. Simon Peter 1. Simon
Peter
2. James 2.
Andrew
3. John 3.
James
4. Andrew 4.
John
5. Philip 5.
Phillip
6. Bartholomew 6. Bartholomew
7. Matthew 7. Thomas
8. Thomas 8.
Matthew
9. James son of Alphaeus 9.
James son of Alphaeus
10. Thaddaeus 10.
Thaddaeus
11. Simon the Cananaean 11.
Simon the Cananaean
12. Judas Iscariot 12. Judas Iscariot
Luke 6:14-16 Acts 1:13
1. Simon Peter 1. Simon
Peter
2. Andrew 2.
John
3. James 3.
James
4. John 4.
Andrew
5. Philip 5.
Philip
6. Bartholomew 6. Thomas
7. Matthew 7. Bartholomew
8. Thomas 8.
Matthew
9. James son of Alphaeus 9.
James son of Alphaeus
10. Simon the Zealot 10. Simon the
Zealot
11. Judas, son or
brother, of James 11. Jude, the
son, or brother, of James
12. Judas Iscariot
14 “These all continued with one accord in prayer and
supplication,
with the women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.”
With one accord continued steadfastly for continued with one accord,
Authorized Version,; prayer for prayer and
supplication, Authorized Version,
and Textus Receptus.
The
women. Luke, in his Gospel,
makes frequent mention
of the women who followed our Lord, and generally of
things that happened to
women (see Luke 23:27,49,55; 24:10,22, etc. See also
Luke 7:37, etc.; 8:2-3;
10:38; etc.). We notice the same tendency in the Acts,
here, and in
ch.
2:17-18; 5:14; 9:36; 12:13; 16:14,16; 17:4,34; 18:26; 21:9; 24:24;
25:23; etc. Mary
the mother of Jesus appears here not as an object of worship,
but as humbly joining in the prayers of the Church. And
with His brethren.
The Lord’s brethren are spoken of by name in Matthew 13:55
as “James, and Joses
[‘Joseph,’ Revised Version], and Simon, and Judas.” So also Mark 6:3 (see too
ch.
4:31-35). “James the Lord’s brother”
is mentioned by Paul (Galatians 1:19);
“the brethren of
the Lord” are mentioned I Corinthians 9:5;
and again in
John 7:3,5,10, “the
brethren of Jesus” are spoken of. This is not the
place to enter upon the difficult question of their
parentage. But it may
suffice to say that if James and Judas are the two apostles
of that name
(which Alford, however, thinks they certainly were not,
referring- to
John 7:5, compared with 6:67), then the brethren here
spoken of as
distinct from the apostles would be Joses
and Simon.
The Grain of Mustard Seed. (vs. 12-14)
Let us contrast for a moment the account here given with
the present
condition of Christianity in the world. Christianity has
taken possession of
the whole civilized world. The thrones, the laws, the
institutions of those
nations which hold sway in the earth are all based upon the
gospel. The
arts, the sciences, the literature of civilized men are
more or less
impregnated with the doctrine of the New Testament. Take
the cathedrals
of
represent! They are among the most imposing monuments of
human
thought and human labor. Look at the mass of Christian
literature — in
poetry, in philosophy, in science, in theology, in sacred
oratory, in general
literature. What countless Christian writers have elevated
the human
intellect, enlarged the borders of knowledge, added dignity
to man, and
happiness to mankind! What vast influences, of all sorts,
permeating the
civilized world, we can
now trace up to the gospel! What
multitudes of
individual men and women in all ages since Christ, and all
over the world,
have learned what the true view of human life is, and have
found their whole
end of living, and their chief enjoyment of life, and their
only consolation
and support, in the truths which the gospel teaches! How
has the world
been filled with fruits of righteousness, altering the
whole aspect or human
society, of which the gospel
alone was the first seed! Now turn to
the
beginnings of the gospel as here exhibited. One upper
chamber at
whole number of those who acknowledged Christ as their
Master.
Measured by any worldly standard, anything feebler or more
absolutely
insignificant than that company cannot be imagined. But the grain of
mustard seed was to become a tree in which the birds of
the air should
make their nests; the little leaven was to leaven the
whole lump; the stone
was to become a great mountain which should fill the whole
earth. And so
it has come to pass that the upper chamber at
Church Catholic, the mother of all the saints that are, or
have been, or are
to be hereafter. What an infinite encouragement to our
faith is this! What a
ground for adoration of Him whose grace and power and
faithfulness work
such marvelous effects! What a ground of sure and certain
hope that He
who has carried His work thus far will finish it, to His own glory, and the
exceeding joy of the Church which He has redeemed with His precious blood!
The Rewards of Iniquity (vs. 12-14)
The physical laws by which the material world is governed are not more
fixed and certain than the moral laws which secure to
iniquity its just
reward. Nor has the patient and honest inquirer more difficulty in
ascertaining those laws than the physicist has in
ascertaining the laws of
nature by observation and experiment. Neither is it
peculiar to Holy
Scripture to set forth the sequences of cause and effect
which occur under
those moral laws; the history of the world and our own
daily experience do
so likewise. Holy Scripture does but record and exhibit
typical and striking
instances by which our own observation and experience are
confirmed.
Now, there is one feature common to a great many, perhaps
more or less
to all, acts of iniquity, viz. that they have, so to speak,
a double reward.
misdoing;
and
inevitable
necessity of the moral Law of God.
Both are clearly exhibited in the awful case of Judas. The
reward which he
looked for, and for the sake of which he betrayed the
innocent blood, was the
possession of thirty pieces of silver. We know the poverty of the Son of
man, and that He had no silver or gold, no houses or lands,
with which to
reward His followers. We know how days of toil succeeded
one the other
during which the gains were indeed immense, souls nourished, enlightened,
instructed in the Word of God, prepared for the kingdom
of heaven,
weaned from sin, won to righteousness — but not such gains as would
please the worldly mind. And we know the mind of Judas,
that it was very
covetous and greedy of lucre. We know with what eyes he
looked upon
Mary’s costly offering of love, and how he was wont to rob
the bag which
contained the alms for the poor. We can well believe,
therefore, that to a
mind so constituted and so depraved the possession of
thirty pieces of
silver appeared no mean reward. It would be some
consolation for the loss
of the portion of the three hundred pence which he might
have abstracted
from the bag had the ointment been sold and the price given
to the poor.
Perhaps he had set his heart upon that very field which was
bought with the
price of blood, and which was to become the strangers’
burial-ground.
Anyhow, he got his reward. He did the deed and he got the money, “the
reward of iniquity” —
the reward which he looked for as the fruit of his
sin. And sinners very often do get their expected reward.
of
garments; (II Kings 5:22)
hatred, revenge, ambition, continually by iniquity obtain
their reward, and
the pages of Scripture and of profane history, as well as
our own
experience, teem with examples of the reward of
successful wickedness.
But now let us look at the other
reward of iniquity; that which comes
in
due season as the inevitable fruit of the just judgment of
God; that of which
Horace, heathen as he was, spoke, when he hid —
“Raro antecedentem scelestum
Deseruit pede poena claudo.”
Judas has got his money. Perhaps he has concluded his
bargain for the
field. He is no longer a poor man like his Master. The
former gains of
robbery have been swelled by the price of treachery. But
he had forgotten
his manhood. He had
forgotten that man has a conscience, and that a guilty
conscience is like the raging sea, which cannot be stilled.
He had shut his
eyes to everything but the reward he coveted. But now the storm is rising.
Remorse begins her terrible work. Vain regret, agonizing
fear, terrible self-
reproach, unbearable shame, — all rush upon his soul, and
distract and tear
it. The remembrance, perhaps, of the Lord’s goodness; some
distinct
impressions of His wonderful love; the recollections,
maybe, of some true
happiness in His service before the curse of covetousness
lit upon him;
flashes of the hope
once entertained of the kingdom of heaven,
but now
turned into despair;
— these move his heart only to make it capable of
feeling more bitterly what he now was, and what he must be
for ever. His
whole existence a curse by his own exceeding wickedness!
“Good were it
for me if I had not been born! I have no place to hide in
from the terrors of
God — the terrors of God’s goodness! I am, and must be
forever. And
God is, and must be forever! But I cannot abide God’s
presence! I cannot
abide my own consciousness!” Such were the maddening
thoughts of the
son of perdition-of him whose iniquity had gained its
reward. He
tries to
rush from
consciousness, to escape from himself and from God. He flings
from him the accursed silver; but he cannot fling away the guilt of
blood.
And so he takes a halter and hangs himself, and goes to his
own place. But
let us reckon up his gains and losses. He had gained thirty pieces of silver
— the reward of his iniquity. But he had lost his apostleship,
the highest
office on earth; his throne, the highest place of man in
heaven, under Jesus
Christ; his peace of mind, his serf-respect, his power of
enjoying life, the
esteem of all good men; any place among men save that of
shame, and
ignominy, and disgrace, and abhorrence, he had lost his own
soul — his
life; all the pleasures of time, all the joys of eternity. This was “the reward
of iniquity,”
which came upon him by the inevitable justice of God. And
this is written for our learning, that we
may ponder it and be wise. And we
are led to the same conclusion by following up in any other
case, and
comparing, the twofold rewards of iniquity. The conclusion to
which we
are inevitably led is —
Ø
The approval of his
own conscience.
Ø
The sense of being
approved by God.
Ø
The esteem of his
fellow men, and of all God’s rational creatures.
·
That by iniquity all these three are forfeited, and that the gains or
reward of iniquity are as
inadequate a compensation for such loss as Esau’s
mess of pottage was for the loss
of his birthright. The gains, the pleasures,
the temporal rewards of
iniquity, come and go like a dream, like
a tale, like
a flash of lightning. The
eternal reward of iniquity abides; terrible in its
undiscovered vastness, awful in
its unknown horrors, and in its fixity of
tenure; fixity written in the
phrase which tells us of Judas that he went
“to his own place.”
Ø
We learn that every
man has the place in eternity which he made his
own IN
TIME! A man’s own place in the eternal world is that which
falls
to him by the unchanging laws of God, according to his choice
of
good or evil in this world. The atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ has,
indeed,
opened a way of righteousness to those who had seemed to
have
lost
it for ever; but to those who obstinately love
darkness rather than
light, and cling to iniquity in the very FACE OF
MERCY, there
remains
in the nature of things no other end than that, like
Judas,
they
go each one “to his own place.”
A Second Interval of Thrilling Expectation
Hushing Itself in Prayer
(vs. 12-14)
“Then returned they unto
brethren.” We have
here:
WITH THRILLING EXPECTATION. It may be held that a period of just
six weeks had elapsed since the
very same persons as are here spoken of
had passed through a much
briefer interval than the ten days they are now
passing through, marked,
however, very largely by the same characteristic
of thrilling expectation.
Perhaps we may say, in the light of such language
as that of our Lord Himself (Luke
24:25-26), that it was entirely to be
set down to the fault of these
disciples and women that on that occasion
their experience was not
altogether one of expectation, instead of being so
dreadfully dashed by gloom, by
fear, sometimes by a very near approach to
despair. That interval of a very
short three days may probably have
dragged its hours along with
fearful slowness. It was, however, the time, if
faith had apprehended it, which
should have been brilliant with the light
and hope of a rising, and therefore
finally vindicated and manifestly
triumphant, Master — of One who
had long time patiently stooped to
suffering, humiliation, insult,
it is true, and who had at last bowed His head
to death, but whose task and
subjection were now done, and come the time
of “rest from His labors,” and of glory in His victory. But we know credibly
that the interval was not thus
brightened. Memory was faint, and faith
faint-hearted. And the
impressions of sense that came of
of the brutal scenes of the judgment
hall, and of the fierce sufferings of the
cross, and the darkness of
death, overmastered the pleading suggestions of
faith, and overruled the
whispering memories of the vanished Friend’s own
words. It was natural, indeed,
because to be wrong is, alas! the very thing
that is so natural with us all;
but we may say that never were three days so
wrested of their rights. For
confident, joyful, ardent expectation were
substituted fear, gloom, and
only the timidest of hopes. And yet there can
be no doubt that the beating
pulse of expectation, though the low-beating,
would be our most correct
diagnosis of that period. And it was now a pulse of
expectation, too, but a
healthier one by far. Faith had had a little rest, a
little occasional change to
sight these forty days past, and was the better,
stronger, more willing for it.
What an inversion had mercifully occurred to
them of their ignorance, doubt,
fear, in certain cardinal directions — of
their estimates of
impossibility, or at least incredibility! So, after a few
enchanting visions and audiences
of their great Lord, they find themselves
“left” again! But they are not
left “comfortless.” They do remember
now
His words. They return to
waiting. Their waiting rests on memories that now glow with glory,
on a
few words of direct command, on
other few words of express promise, and
on one incomparable fact — the
Ascension. Things noteworthy in the
nature of this period of expectation are as follows:
Ø
It was waiting for
their life work, which they are implicitly forbidden
to
anticipate. Yet who could call it wasted waiting? The hasty, the
uncertain,
and those who may have other motive inferior to the most
real
motive, sometimes decry a delay, in which they ought to recognize
a
great meaning and a positive use.
Ø
It was waiting for
even liberty to leave a certain place or separate from a
certain circle of companions or
associates. The final reason of this became
apparent. The startling
developments of Pentecost would have been shorn
of half their intended value,
apart from the solidarity of the apostles and
disciples. The conditions of our
earthly life, and our sphere of Christian
ministry and service, often seem
both tieing and trying. Yet there must
be valuable consideration for
these, and sometimes time does at last
surprisingly justify them.
Ø
It was waiting for a
promised marvelous endowment, not of anything so
vulgar
as outward wealth, not of anything so enviable but dangerous as
mere
intellectual superhuman illumination, but of the
undefined, the
mysterious, the awful power of the Holy Ghost. With what anxious
outlook
we do sometimes wait! With what mistaken, ill-judged longings!
Nay,
but sometimes past these, with what pardonably trembling,
shrinking,
fainting, hovering fancy we wait! But oh, if these disciples and
women
could have gauged beforehand something of that awful gift of the
Holy
Ghost, what of character, quality, color, would it not have given to
their
expectation! So men have now and again trembled before the
mystery
of their own conversion — before some deep change in their
spiritual
self, and before that supreme exchange of grace
and trial here
for glory and perpetual security above. And so also, for infinite reason,
God
veils just a while light, beauty, the blaze of knowledge, even the
finish
of holiness, from His own.
UNDEFINED AS TO ITS DURATION. The tension of the disciples on
the occasion of the Crucifixion
and entombment was relieved, and might
have been much more relieved for
them. They had been not only expressly
forewarned of what was to be,
but of the time also. And Old Testament
type and temple parable had
offered to deepen the impression on the minds
of the disciples, of the women,
and of the mother herself. Jonah’s “three
days and three
nights,” and the “three days” rebuilding
of the demolished
temple, spoke the duration of
the trial, darkness, sorrow. But now all that
is known, all that has been
said, is, “not many days hence.” And to this, no
doubt, the quickened
intelligence of the apostles and their associates would
have most naturally argued that
the delay could not be really long. Christ
would never, in the nature of
things, keep His disciples long in an
inactivity
that might degenerate,
if prolonged, into indifference or idleness. This
exact crisis abounds in aspects
and questions of interest. That the apostles
should at all be relegated to a period
of this kind at such a moment
inspiring above all others; that
the interval should need to be one of some
ten days; that this length of
time was not specified to them; and what the
ascended Lord’s transactions
were in that interval above, — are
suggestions of questions to
which none but conjectural and alternative
response can be offered. But
these things may be said about them:
Ø
They bring events and
experiences of our own individual life, of our
combined religious work, of our own
entrance and of the Church’s
entrance upon the fruition of
the immortal hope, into close and
grateful analogy with things
that passed and that were ordained
directly under
the eye of our Founder and Lord Himself.
Ø
They are in manifest
consonance with the objects and moral advantages
of very much of our appointed
waiting. Once ascertain and announce
time, and it is manifest that a whole range of moral advantage in
our
education would be swept
away, and a vast range of disaster would
tyrannously usurp its
sacred place.
Ø
They help comfort
every reverent mind, every humble heart, that instead
of its first impression being
true, that arbitrariness is the hard bondage
under which we live, this is
the very last thing that can be true. And they
help to convince of the
greatness of Him who, with all the deep counsel
of His own purposes, neither
forgets nor is baffled in securing the
advantage of His own children.
Ø
It is spent “in
prayer.” Not in an ill-concealed, graceless
return to
ordinary work, and which might
at any other time have possibly been
sacred duty, but which was not
so now. Times, the honest work of which
is prayer, may well belong to
every good life. That of Jesus owned to
them. And this was just such a time.
Ø
It is spent in united prayer. “With one accord.”
Persons, voices, hearts,
hopes, — all were accordant.
What an augury, what an example, what a
type!
Ø
It is spent in persevering, united prayer. They “continued.”
No sense of
weariness crept over them; no
dullness, no monotony, struck them in
this their worship and liturgy.
Ø
To the company and
unanimity of the apostles were added “the women,
and Mary the
mother of Jesus, and his brethren.”
o
There is no priesthood
here, nor any proxy of Divine worship and
service. Round the apostles are
gathered various others, whose
worship, prayer, and thoughts
are all the same.
o
There is here no
exaltation of man and depreciation of woman.
Twas a happy augury, this little early incident before
Christianity
was
fully planted, of the place that it would give woman; and a
happy
earnest of the fact that nowhere does woman rank so high
as
where Christ and His pure truth have the fairer sway at all
events,
if not yet the perfect sway.
o
Mary, the genuine
mother of Jesus, acknowledges His Deity.
She
joins “in prayer;” and “his brethren” do the same.
What
quiet telling witness to Jesus, and to our “faith and hope
toward” Him, this may justly be felt!
o
As Jesus began His
earthly career from the stable, so the
compacted
body of His Church begin theirs from the upper room.
It
is not the temple, it is not even the tabernacle, it is not a
consecrated
place heretofore. The company, the prayer, the
o’er hovering Spirit, “waiting” to alight, — these
consecrate.
The
grandness and sacredness of temple and of church all had
and have their meaning
and their use. But there is truth of so
much greater and deeper force in
Christ and His people, that
wherever they
are, that is “the house of God and the gate of
heaven,” that is the really grand temple, that the sacred
Church.
Happy, threefold happy, this
early picture of Christ’s “little flock.”
“Who shall harm them? What shall
move?” And though but some
six weeks had passed since they
were seen plunged in the
faithless gloom of the three
days, this has traveled far into the
past. It is no wonder. A little
time suffices for dawn to drive
away the darkness. How
differently this present interval of
ten days is passing! So when
darkness, storm, and fear are
vanishing, all is hushed in
peaceful prayer, and the
Church “waits” with a just and blissful expectancy!
Wisdom in Bereavement (vs. 9-14)
We learn from these verses:
DEPTH OF PRIVATION TO ANOTHER. For the joy that was set before
Him Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2).
Into that joy He now entered. As
the “cloud
received him out of their sight”
(v. 9), and He returned unto the
Father, He took possession of the
glorious inheritance for which
He had paid so costly a price. But the time of
His exaltation was the hour of
His disciples sorrow. By His departure they
lost sight of their dearest
Friend, their wise Counselor, their great Teacher,
their honored Lord. So must it
be with us. The upright Christian statesman
passes to a still larger sphere
of usefulness and honor, and the nation
mourns; the gifted and devoted
pastor is called to a celestial ministry, and
the Church is bereaved; the
Beloved parent is translated to the skies, and
the family hearth is desolate.
WHICH WE MUST SOON BE AROUSED. (vs. 10-11.) It was natural
and right enough that, when the
Savior was taken up and disappeared from
sight, the disciples should
continue to “look steadfastly toward heaven”;
their eyes may well have been
riveted to the spot in inexpressible awe and
wonder. Doubtless all thought
was swallowed up in simple surprise and
consternation; they stood in
helpless, bewildering astonishment. This might
last for some minutes, but it
could not continue longer. The angels broke in
upon it, not with the language
of reproach, but with the voice of arousing.
A kindly voice is this. When
disposed to give way to helpless awe, or
fruitless grief, or inanimate
prostration of soul, we may thank the minister
of God, in whatever form he may
come, who says to us, “Why stand ye
gazing’? Amuse ye! All is not lost. The past is past, but the
future is in
front of you.”
COMPENSATIONS. (v. 11,
latter part.) Though the Master was taken,
He would come again; and when He
returned, it would, indeed, be “in like
manner”, etc., but in more glorious form and with more splendid
surroundings (I Thessalonians
4:16; II Thessalonians 1:7; Jude 1:14;
Revelation 1:7). Moreover, He
would come again in unlike
manner, but in a way as gracious
and, perhaps, even more needful, viz. in
the enlightening influences of
the Holy Spirit (v. 5). Heaven was taking
away their Strength and their
Joy; but let them wait in holy trustfulness,
and Heaven would soon give them
ample and blessed compensation. God
takes from us - from the
community and from the individual heart — those
that are very dear, things that
are very precious to us; then we faint and are
grievously distressed; we may be
almost paralyzed with our sense of loss
and desolation. But there is blessing on its way — Divine comfort, solace,
strength. The hand
that takes our treasures has large compensations in
reserve.
COMMUNION WITH GOD AND IN FELLOWSHIP WITH MAN.
(vs. 12-14.) The apostles,
roused by the angels’ speech, returned unto
friends — those who had the
deepest sympathy with them — that they
might commune with them and that
they might “continue in prayer and
supplication.” In the time of bereavement and woe we may be tempted to
shut ourselves in to our own
chamber and nurse our grief. Nothing can be
more unwise. Let sorrow, indeed,
have its own chosen loneliness in its first
dark hours; leave it alone with
God, with the pitiful, patient Savior. Then
let it come forth; let it go
into the “upper room,” where it can hold
fellowship with human friends;
let it go into the sanctuary, where, with the
people of God, it can pour out
its heart in prayer and supplication: it will
not be long before it finds
itself joining with them in the accents of praise.
15 “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the
disciples, and
said, (the number
of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)”
These for those, Authorized Version; brethren for
disciples, Authorized Version
and Textus Receptus;
and there was a multitude of persons gathered together
for the number of names together were, Authorized
Version; a for an, Authorized
Version. Peter justifies his primacy by taking the lead in
the first onward
movement of the Church. Names is a common Hebraism for “persons”
(see Revelation 3:4; Numbers 1:2). Gathered together; i.e. to one place
and
at one time (see the same phrase, ch.
2:1, 44 - ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ - epi to auto –
on the same place, indicative of Church unity occurs).
16 “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled,
which
the Holy Ghost by
the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas,
which was guide
to them that took Jesus.” Brethren, it was needful that the
Scripture should be fulfilled for men and brethren, this Scripture must needs
have been fulfilled, Authorized
Version.; spake
before by the mouth of David
for by the mouth of David spake before, Authorized Version It was needful, etc.
So our Lord declared, “The
Scriptures cannot be broken” (John
10:35); and
“All things must be fulfilled which were written” etc. (Luke 24:25-27, 44-46).
It is most important to our Christian integrity that we should view the Scriptures
in the same light as our Lord and His apostles did, as containing real
prophecies,
spoken by the Holy Ghost. (Compare the manner in which Psalm 95 is here
quoted with that of Hebrews 3:7.) So the Creed, “I believe in the Holy
Ghost .... who spake by the
prophets” (compare
ch.4:25; 28:25). Who
was guide, etc. If Peter had only been addressing his brother
apostles,
who were well acquainted with the treachery of Judas, it
would scarcely
have been natural to introduce these words; they would have
seemed rather
to be explanatory words added by the historian. But the
circumstances
might be very imperfectly known to many of the hundred and
twenty
brethren assembled on this occasion; and if so, the
reference to Judas’s
treachery would not be out of place in Peter’s mouth.
17 “For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this
ministry.”
Among for with, Authorized
Version; received his portion in for had obtained
part of, Authorized
Version For he was numbered, etc. This is said in order to
show that the passage in the Psalms applied strictly to
Judas, seeing he had
held his portion in the ministry and office of an apostle
(see John 6:71).
His portion; literally, his lot; i.e. the portion
which fell to him by lot. The
language is taken from the Old Testament (see e.g. Joshua
18:10-11;
19:1, 10, etc.). Those who received such a portion (κλῆρον – klaeron –
lot; allotment) were clergy.
18 “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of
iniquity; and falling
headlong, he
burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.”
Obtained for purchased, Authorized
Version an unnecessary change; his
iniquity for iniquity,
Authorized Version It is obvious that this verse and v. 19,
which are placed in a parenthesis in the Revised Version,
are not part of Peter’s
discourse, but are explanatory words inserted by Luke for
the instruction of
Theophilus and his other readers. Falling headlong; i.e.
from the tree or
gallows on which he hung himself (see Matthew 27:3-8). The
only
apparent discrepancies in the accounts of Matthew and Luke
in
regard to the purchase of the field, and the name given to
it, are that,
according to Matthew’s more detailed account, it was the
chief priests
who actually purchased the field with Judas’s money,
whereas Luke
says, less accurately, that Judas purchased it. Again,
Matthew explains
the name Akel-dama as being
given to the field because it was the price of
the “innocent blood” of Jesus betrayed by Judas,
whereas Luke’s
account rather suggests that it was Judas’s own blood shed
in his fall which
gave the name. But both accounts of the name might be true,
some
understanding the name in one sense and some in the other.
(Compare the
different accounts of the name of Beer-sheba
in Genesis 21:31 and
26:32-33; of the origin of the proverb, “Is Saul among the prophets?”
I Samuel 10:11-12 and 20:24; and other similar cases.)
Though,
however, there is no serious discrepancy between Luke and
Matthew,
it is probable, from the variations above named, that Luke
had not seen
Matthew’s account.
19 “And it was known unto all the dwellers at
that field is
called in their proper tongue,
The field of
blood.” Became known for was know, Authorized Version; that
in their language that
field was called Akeldama for as that field is called in
their proper tongue,
20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his
habitation be desolate,
and let no man
dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.”
Made desolate for desolate,;
office (as in margin) for bishopric,
Authorized
Version. The book of Psalms, one of the recognized
divisions of the
canonical Scriptures, as we find Luke 24:44, “The law of Moses, and
the prophets, and
the psalms,” the last standing for the Hagiographa, of
which it was the first and principal book. Here, however,
as in Luke
20:42, it may rather mean the Book of Psalms proper. (For
similar
quotations from the Psalms, see ch.13:33-35; Hebrews
chapters 1., 2., 3., 4.,
5., 10., etc.) His office let another take. Bishop being
the English
transliteration of ἐπίσκοπος – episkopos – overseer
- bishopric is, of course,
the literal rendering of ἐπισκοπή - episkopae – office;
supervision; if taken in
its wider and more general sense, as in the well known work
of Archdeacon Evans?
“the bishopric of
souls.” This same office is called a διακονίας – diakonias –
dispensation; ministry (a deaconship), and ἀποστολὴ - apostolae - (an
apostleship) in vs. 17 and 25. So Paul cells himself διάκονος – diakonos - (a
minister) in Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23, 25, etc. So
the presbyters of the
Church are called bishops (ch.
20:17, 28; I Timothy 1:1-2. etc.). The
ecclesiastical names for the different offices in the
Church only acquired their
distinctive use later, and by the gradual growth of custom.
In the Septuagint,
ἐπισκοπή answers to the Hebrew פְקֻדָּה, Authorized Version, “oversight”
(Numbers, 3:32; 4:16, etc.).
21 “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all
the time
that the Lord
Jesus went in and out among us,” Of the men therefore for
wherefore of these men, Authorized
Version; event out for
out, Authorized Version.
22 “Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day
that He was taken
up from us, must
one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection.”
The day for that same day, Authorized Version;
received for taken, Authorized
Version; of these must one become for must one be
ordained to be, Authorized
Version. Beginning
belongs to the Lord Jesus. He began to go in and out among
His apostles from the time that John baptized, and
continued to do so till His
ascension, the day that He was received up (“taken
up” Authorized Version),
as in v. 11. This definition of the time of our
Lord’s public ministry exactly
agrees with Matthew 4:12-25; Mark 1.; Luke 3., 4.;
John 1:29-51. Must one
become a witness, etc. The resurrection
of Christ from the dead thus
appears to be a cardinal doctrine of the gospel. The whole truth of
Christ’s
mission, the acceptance of His sacrifice, the consequent
forgiveness of sins,
and all man’s hopes of
eternal life, TURN UPON IT! All the sermons of
the
apostles recorded in the Acts and the Epistles also agree
with this (see chapters
2., 3., 4.; 5:31-32; 7:56, 59; 10:39-41; 13:30, etc.;
Romans 1:4; I Corinthians 15:4;
II Corinthians 1:9, etc.; I Peter 1:3; 3:21-22; Revelation
1:5,etc.). The great care
taken to secure competent witnesses is very remarkable. A
disciple who had
recently joined the company might be mistaken; one who had
been the daily
companion of Jesus Christ for three years and a half, and
knew every gesture and
every feature of the Master with perfect certainty, could
not be mistaken.
23 “And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas,
who was surnamed Justus,
and Matthias.” Put forward for appointed,
Authorized Version; Barsabbas for
Barsabas, Authorized
Version and Textus Receptus.
Joseph called Barsabbas
(or Barsabas). Nothing more is really known of him. His work for
Christ has no
earthly record, except that Papias (Euseb., ‘H.E.,’ 3:39) says that,
having drunk
some deadly poison, by
the grace of God he sustained no harm. Eusebius
elsewhere says that he and Matthias were reported to be of
the seventy, which
is not improbable. The derivation of the name Barsabas, or Barsabbas, is
unknown; it seems to be a patronymic (son of Sabas, or Sabbas), like Bar-
Tholomew, Bar-Jonas, Bar-Jesus, etc. But it might also be
descriptive of
his qualities, like Barnabas, Son of Consolation (ch. 4:36), in which
case one would expect it to mean the same as Justus, as in the case of
“Thomas called Didymus” (John
20:24; where Thomas and Di-dymus
both mean “a twin”); but no Aramean
word of this signification is
forthcoming. The surname Justus, with its derivatives Justinus and
Justinianus, was not an uncommon Roman name. It was also borne by a
Jewish historian contemporary with Josephus, Justus of Tiberias, the son of
Pistus (see ‘Life of Josephus,’§§ 35, 65) and was the surname of
James the
Less. Matthias
not otherwise known, but said by Nicephorus to
have
preached and suffered martyrdom in
mentions spurious Gospels “of Peter, Thomas, Matthias, and
others,” as
quoted by heretics. A work called ‘The Traditions of Matthias’is referred
to by Clemens Alexandrinus
(‘Strom.,’ 2:163).
24 “And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts
of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,” Of these
two the
one whom for whether
of these two, Authorized Version and
Textus Receptus.
25 “That he may take
part of this ministry and apostleship, from which
Judas by transgression
fell, that he might go to his own place.”
To take the place in this for that he matt take part of this, Authorized
Version
and Textus Receptus;
fell away for by transgression fell, Authorized Version.
(παρέβη – parebae - transgressed ). The use of
παραβαίνω – parabaino - in
an intransitive sense for “to transgress, fall away from, turn
aside from”; and the like, is frequent in the Septuagint. (Exodus
32:8;
Deuteronomy 17:20, etc.). To his own place. An awful phrase, showing that
every man has the place in ETERNITY
which he has made for
himself in time. If
the reading place, in the beginning of the verse, is
adopted instead of the part (κλῆρον - klaeron – lot;
allotment) of the
Authorized Version, then there is a contrast between the blessed place of
apostleship, which Judas
forfeited, and that of traitorship, which he acquired.
Judas, His
“Concerning Judas, which was guide… might go to his own
place.” The
treason of Judas is related by every one of the
evangelists; but his
subsequent history no one of them as such even alludes to,
except Matthew.
The Evangelist Luke, however, here gives it, in his
capacity
of historian of the” Acts of the Apostles.” What he
reports Peter as
saying is not in verbal harmony with what Matthew says. But
there is
not the slightest difficulty in seeing the way to a real
and perfect harmony.
The only difficulty is in declaring absolutely that one way
and not another
is the authoritative harmony. That Judas “fell headlong and burst asunder”
is a very easy sequel to his “hanging himself.” And that the chief priests
took counsel, and determined to buy with the abandoned
thirty pieces of
silver the potter’s field, and to devote it to the burial
of strangers, is also a
very conceivable sequel. It may be it was but the carrying
into effect of a
bargain which the covetousness of Judas had contemplated
and had
arranged for — all but the transfer of the money and the
thereby
“completion of purchase.”
The chief priests hear of this, and in their
perplexity and desire to get rid of the accursed thirty
pieces of silver, they
close at once with the proposing vendor, whoever he was;
but while they
devote their purchase to an object the same, the purpose
was very different
from that which Judas had grown
in a covetous mind. We may be
tolerably
sure he sought for some sort of further gain. They adapt
(adsit omen) to a
burial-ground. Once, such
an end to such a career, of a professed disciple
of the Lord, was unique, and then, for that reason, it would fascinate study.
It not long remained so, alas! and for that reason,
that practical, alarming
reason, it has been suggesting for centuries, and still to
this day it suggests
— ay, it demands — solemn, heart-searching study. Let us
get beneath our eye:
A JUDGMENT RESPECTING JUDAS AND HIS CHARACTER.
Ø
He was called in the
same way as, at all events, a majority of the whole
number
of the twelve disciples were called. So far as we know, there was
nothing
special or emphatic in the circumstances that accompanied his
call
(Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16). John says nothing
whatever
of the call of Judas; but that he knew something about it
is
evident from his allusion to Christ’s foreknowledge (John 6:64,70-71,
Why Christ, with His admitted
perfect foreknowledge, did call Judas to
be
an immediate attendant upon Him, is a question that cannot be
answered,
perhaps. But three things may be remarked upon it:
o
That Christ certainly
did not do Judas harm, but gave him the
grandest
possible opportunity of help towards subduing
whatever
may have been his master-sin, by permitting his
special
and constant association with Him and His other
disciples.
o
That at all events
Christ did not, in calling Judas to the circle of
His
disciples, call one who would betray another, and have
favorable
opportunity of betraying another thereby, but only
himself.
Jesus bore all the pain and suffered all the
loss of
what
He did Himself; He did not scatter harm in the path
of
others.
o
That after all, in
deep principle, Jesus did nothing different from
what
has ever since been transpiring under his Name, wherever
His
Name is known. His Church now — and His Church is His
representative
— admits within its most really hallowed
enclosure
many a traitor. It is true, not with oreknowledge;
it is
true,
pleading ever, as its apology when discovered, its own
confessed
fallibility; and, let it be true also, that it is this which
strikes
us as constituting the difference. But is it to be so
regarded?
Without leaving out of sight for one moment
Christ’s foreknowledge and infallibility of foreknowledge,
we
must bring into sight the fact that this is traversed by
another
most evident principle and practice on the part of
Jesus,
which reveal Him ever beforehand sharing the lot
of
His Church, and intending to share it in disappointment,
in
deception on the part of others, in woe as in weal. On
much
the same principle that Jesus did not take advantage
of
His ability to command stones into bread, so He does not
take
certain kinds of advantage from His foreknowledge.
And
what we have under consideration is exactly one of
these
kind. There are ample and significant indications
that
the one expression, Jesus called unto Him “whom
He
would” (Mark 3:13), and our own willing estimate of His
superlative
knowledge, are to be balanced with other
considerations,
both such as arise from disciples’ choice
and
disciples’ volunteering (John 1:37-42), and from the
essential
facts of human nature. At all events, we do not
know
that Judas was not a volunteer. He may have been
an
ardent, enthusiastic volunteer; he may have been a
financial
expert of his rank and day, who seems to
sacrifice
bright business prospects in following Jesus,
who
takes credit, too, for it, and who by general consent
becomes
designated treasurer so soon as a treasurer was
wanted
(Luke 8:3, and elsewhere). Do we not know something
today
of the busy and clever and ready-tongued volunteer,
and
of his entrance within the pale of the Church visible?
It
may, in passing, just be noted that in the three parallel
Gospels
the name of Judas always stands last, and is
attended
by the evangelistic remark, merely posthumous,
that
he was the traitor of his Master.
Ø
From the announcement
of the call of the twelve disciples up to now, the
closing
days of Christ’s life, not a syllable is to be read of Judas, except
the damnatory remark
of John 6:71. The question of Jesus preceding that
running
comment belonged, of course, strictly to the occasion, but the
running
comment itself is merely historic. But the closing days are now
come.
And they bring this man to the fore.
o
He finds fault (or
otherwise leads the fault-finding of himself
and
some others) with the loving devotion of a woman who,
for
priceless mercy received, brings the only present she knows
to
bring — a present, no doubt, of what was costliest in her
treasures,
and admitted by all to be both precious and
costly —
ointment with which to anoint the head and
feet of Jesus. And
Judas
says, “It’s waste.” And Judas asks, “Why
was it not sold,
and
the hard cash put into the Master’s bag for the poor,
which
I carry?” Yes, and the Evangelist John adds, probably
in
the light of after developments, from which he
carried too,
i.e.
from which he stole. (modern embezzlement – CY – 2016)
And Judas incurred
the silencing and reproof of the Master, and
he
does not forget
that reproof. This was late as the fourth day
of
the fatal week.
o
At the end, or
immediately after the end of the very next day
(equivalent
to the evening which led in the sixth day), Judas
also
asks, “Is it I?” when the question was — Who among
those
twelve there was the traitor? and he is pronounced, by
the
lip and the hand of Jesus, the traitor; and
he withdraws
from
the solemn, sacred, pathetic Supper scene! And
again
he goes with a word of the Master in his hearing,
nor
forgets it either.
o
Now but a few hours of
night-time pass, when Judas reappears.
It
is into the
he
had been there often with a Master who loved to go there
often
— that he enters, no longer, for ever and ever
no longer,
the disciple of Jesus, but
now the leader of a band, who lighted
a
way, that surely much needed light, “with lanterns and
torches,” and who bore “swords and staves” (Matthew
26:47-56;
Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12). With
a
word and a kiss Judas betrays his recent Master, who asks
him
one gentle question, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?”
And
like a shadow Judas vanishes again from our sight.
o
Once more, and once
more only, does Judas come himself
before
us. He comes to show a certain violent repenting,
an
attempt at some sort of restitution and unreserved
confession
of his own individual sin; and for these the
treatment
that he gets from “the chief priests and elders”
seems
to ripen remorse and madden despair, and, witness
against
himself, and jury, and judge, he becomes his own
swift executioner also, all four in one
terrible demonstration!
It
stands a witness to the end of time (and there cannot in this
instance
be a doubt that eternity looks on) of the avenging
force
that couches in ambush, in the being in whom God has
implanted
a moral constitution, when that
constitution is
keenly
affronted, wounded to the quick repeatedly, and in
aggravated
form sinned against! WOE
IS THAT BEING!
it
had been better for him that he had never been born!
And
now we have exhausted all the actual information
recorded
for us respecting the career of Judas. Let us ask:
OF JUDAS WE MAY BE WARRANTED TO DRAW FROM THESE
MATERIALS. It has Been
often thought that the key to the opening of his
character is held out to us in
the one word covetousness, This impression
must be supposed to have been
derived from the two facts — that he
filched from “the
bag,” and that he asked money for the iniquitous
volunteered enterprise of
being “guide to them that took Jesus.” The
foundation is perhaps something
slender for what is built upon it. Likely
enough his tendencies may have
looked this way. He may have known a
shade too well the use and “the love of money;” but evidence
there is none
that he loved money as a miser
loves it. Nor did it seem to stick to his
fingers as it does to those of
an essentially covetous man — not, for
instance, when he threw it down
on the temple floor at the priests’ feet.
May not other causes, that moved
in deeper groove, and mined their
unsuspected approaches in darker
and more tortuous channel, have
determined this monstrous
deformity of growth? We believe that we have
before us, in the unenviable,
unwelcome riddle of this character:
Ø
A man to whom ambition (very probably native
to him) was the
misguiding, the fatuous, the
disastrous light. This covetousness was
in him; it had been looking
out for its own good; it had
comparatively
long time looked in vain. But
now, in what the history of two thousand
years, perhaps rather of four
thousand years, has shown to be the most
dangerous direction of all, the
opportunity seemed to open itself within
the ecclesiastical sphere. He
sees and snatches at the opportunity. Here
is a manifest novelty — Jesus!
His pretensions are great, and are far
from lacking probability, The
mighty works He does are supported by
significant indications, though
not so popular, by mighty words, and
deeper still by the framework of
cherished prophecies not unknown to
Judas, and with which just now
the very air, natural, political, religious,
is rife. The thought enters his
mind to become a disciple — it is not
altogether business, for his heart owns to a gentle upheaval of
enthusiasm towards Jesus. He essays
to become a disciple, puts
himself in the way, keeps near
and in the right company, and finds
himself “called” in the sacred
circle. Adventure, religiosity, and
a practical good chance seemed
all combined.
Ø
A man with an
immense power of self-deception. No form of
deception
is more aggravated in its
character and in its effects than self-deception.
The victimizer is the same with
the victim. The deadliest harm suffered
from another may have, even in
the supreme moment, some possible
compensation for the sufferer,
in high moral feeling, in the exercise of
high moral grace, such as
forgiveness, or patience under unmerited,
uncaused suffering, nay, in the bare
thought that one is suffering through
another. For now, at all events,
the vicariousness of suffering, in a wide
range of degree, has a charm of
real glory. But to have the very faculty
of self-deception is to have
one of the worst of enemies while character
grows, one of the most
vengeful of enemies when the day of settlement
comes. And Judas, whether in aiming to become a disciple or in
only
consenting to it, had little idea
of the amount of his unfittedness
for it.
And so the months that
flew on increased the unfittedness and the
ignorance by equal strides.
Ø
A man of amazing power
of veiling his real self behind an impassive
exterior, when he gradually came
to know that real self, and of keeping
his own secret.
o
Was it not getting
time for conscience to show itself in the cheek
for
Judas, when Jesus said, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and
one of you is a devil?”
o
Was ever more perilous
stuff pent up in the breast, and yet not
a
sign of it on the countenance, nor even in a faltering tone of
voice,
when, that Last Supper evening, Judas found himself
compelled
to join the inquirers, and brought his lips also to say,
“Lord,
is it I?”
o
Was it not the very
incarnation of the own devil’s deliberateness
and
of matchless coolness when Judas not only headed the cowed
procession,
armed with swords and staves, and lighted with
lanterns
and torches, into the garden, but that, when he “fell to
the ground,” he had nerve enough so soon
to find his feet, and
to
go on with his work as though he had not
fallen, and surpassed
himself
in then stepping forth to the very van of the troop, who
had
hitherto covered him in part — to say “Hail!” to the Master,
no
longer his, and to “kiss” Him? The
very highest moral efforts
have been sometimes accomplished
just so much the more
effectively because they have
been accompanied by a certain
force of moral nervous exertion.
On this occasion the very
highest immoral
effort bore witness to a destitution of nervous
sensibility
hitherto incredible. Surely to the end
of the world
Judas will hold all his own the
first place for secretiveness and
deliberateness and untroubled,
both in darkest design and in
execution of it. His calm,
balanced, impassive bearing serves
him with every
one, except with Him “who knows the hearts
of all men.”
o
A man who, finding
that he is playing a losing game, or thinking
so,
dares to attempt to retrieve what he counts his error, by
heading
a
dark and desperate scheme, and by providing himself
(for
this was the probable reason of his occasional “thefts,” and
of
his asking payment for the betrayal) with something in
compensation
of the “all he had left,” together with the other
disciples,
when he first “followed” Jesus. However, now he
stakes “all” on one cast — the event too
clearly demonstrates it.
He shows himself not the man to
bear disappointment and loss,
especially when riled, as he
probably now felt, by a conviction
of having suffered under some
delusion. He is not of the temper
to brook a practical affront,
let it have come whence or how it
may! He refuses to remain
partners with inward discontent one
unnecessary, one avoidable hour!
And not the first man of
the kind, though the
undoubted first of the solemn pitch of
ENORMITY, he miscalculates — awfully
miscalculates —
the hour, and in another hour is
falling into the lowest Tophet,
under the name of “the son of perdition”! So fell THE
SELFISH GAMBLER of THIS WORLD and TIME!
o
A man — emphatically not
“stricken,
smitten of God, and
afflicted,” but — whose branded heart and
seared conscience
were
stricken of God, being restored for one moment to their
maximum
vitality, that moment their very last! It is impossible
to
account for the previous phenomena of the history of Judas
as
recorded, and for this fierce end of his career, without
believing
that he had long been hardening — heart and
conscience
grievously and dreadfully injured. Nemo fit
repente turpissimus
(no man ever become wicked all
at
once). And
Peter, the thrice-denier, stands close by Judas,
the
betrayer, to point with Heaven’s own method of distinctness
the
difference. The death-struggle not unfrequently has
witnessed
to
the measure of life that body and mind together can claim.
And supineness
(laying on the back) has suddenly snatched and
for a moment wielded the weapons
of preternatural, if not
supernatural, force. And it must
be that this was the philosophy
of Judas doing these three things
at once:
§
“repenting
himself,”
§
“confessing his
sin,” and
§
“hanging himself.”
The
third of this series interprets for us the former two. The man
who
breaks thus, breaks because he is intrinsically weak. The
keenest
potency of feeling, the fullest, simplest confession of sin,
the
unequivocal renunciation of his unholy gain, and this all in
the right arena, in face of
the priests and on the temple floor —
and
yet these not followed by mercy and forgiveness, but
blackened to sight
by a self-inflicted dog’s death — must
proclaim a man:
§
strengthless,
§
hopeless,
§
for ever the
disinherited “son
of perdition.”
Let
us ask:
STRANGE AND REMARKABLY STRONG EXPRESSION HERE
APPLIED TO JUDAS, AS DESCRIPTIVE OF THE END OF HIS
EARTHLY CAREER. Peter
says that Judas “fell by transgression”
from his apostleship, “that
he might go to his own place.” It can scarcely
be that Peter, who rose to speak
thus in the midst of his “brethren,” should
entirely forget how near he himself bad been to falling from his
apostleship;
and yet there are essential
considerations so differencing the two cases that
we could imagine it possible
that, in real fact, he never connected them for
so much as a moment in his own
mind. This the difference — not that,
having strayed, Peter so soon
and with so genuine a penitence came back,
and not that he had been
perfectly sincere and was so sound at heart still,
but — that, though he undoubtedly fell suddenly by transgression (as Judas
fell suddenly), he did not fall “that he might go to his own place.”
He fell
that he might get more estranged
from “his own place,” and, regaining
his
footing, might find himself nearer “placed” to his Master, and safer far than
before. It is very noticeable
that Peter does not say that Judas went “to
his own place” because he
“fell by transgression,” but that his fall,
come at
by distinct and flagrant
transgression such as admitted neither defense nor
palliation, made his own way to
his own place. Some make a bridge of
escape, and some cut off from
their enemies or for higher reasons from
themselves a bridge of escape,
but Judas, “by transgression,” actually
bridges a way of
destruction for himself; yes, “by transgression” so
pronounced, so
aggravated, so enormous, but which
drew its greatest, its
most distinctive peculiarities
from what was antecedent to it. Its long roots
lay in a long
past. From
these it was nourished till it became monstrous.
Harder than it is to “pluck a
rooted sorrow from the memory” did Judas
find it, arrived at a certain
point, to pluck himself from “his own”
destruction.
The disease will now have its course. The road leads to a
visible precipice, but Judas
cannot stop his driving. The stream bears
irresistibly to the gulf. To
what do these things point? What were the
antecedent peculiarities?
Ø
Very strong individuality of character ungoverned. Such may make
very
fine character. But it needs very skilful management, very strict
observation; a very firm hand
must be kept upon it. Let it be ever
remembered that it is not likely
to be and is not on side issues that the
battle of
character, of life, of destiny, is
fought. And it is not on side
issues that any man’s “own
place” is determined. And this is the
reason why human judgments of
self or of others are so often wrong,
because they are so prone to be
arrested by the glitter or else the
glare of what may be a most
minor point, a mere detail, a really
side issue, instead of being of
the very web and woof. A man’s
“own place” is neither determined nor ascertained by the side issues,
which are so often all that lie
visible. (Like heredity and environoment –
CY – 2016) But there are some potencies of character that do, or
otherwise undo, the work. A certain strong persistence of some force:
o
a thought,
o
a taste,
o
a wish,
o
a passion.
And
when a man has a character of this sort, his best friend has one
gospel
to preach to him — this, that his work lies clear as noonday
before him; he has an option of trembling significance before him;
he is set:
o
to master or
o
to be mastered,
o
to guide and rule
and rise high as the angels, or
o
to be lured, drawn, dragged, driven, all the appalling
way down to “HIS OWN PLACE”!
Ø
Splendid opportunities grossly
neglected. The same phenomena and
facts of character and of growth
to the very end, may and naturally must
be true anywhere, any time. But
as the “own place” of Judas was different
from what could be the “own place” of vast numbers to whom for
instance
the very name of Christ is
unknown, so it is fair to take into account the
fact that his opportunities were, for his time of day and for every
time of
day to which they could apply, literally splendid. The principle will be
very rarely unobservable, that
in proportion as opportunity was good,
gross neglect of
it made the surest ILL END YET SURER! And make
whatever deductions possible,
the opportunities of any one of the twelve
disciples were splendid — then
certainly none more splendid than they.
To see, to hear, to watch such excellence, the excellence:
o
of naturalness,
o
of simplicity,
o
of perfect truth,
o
of tenderest human kindness,
o
of superhuman
holiness,
was it not splendid opportunity?
To have the:
o
personal
inspection,
o
occasional
correction,
o
deep-sighted
suggestions, and
o
high warnings,
not
unmingled with gracious encouragement that never bore a tint
of
flattery, — was it not a splendid time of
opportunity? To root
confidence
in such a Worker, not of gaping wonders but of majestic
beneficence,
— was it not
splendid opportunity? In brief:
o
to witness that activity,
o
to hear that teaching,
o
to study that Model,
was a mass of
opportunity that all the world beside
could not give,
and
that all the world beside ought not to have been able to take away.
But Judas let the world,
or a small portion of the world, take it away
— nay, HE THREW IT AWAY
HIMSELF! And he did this to get
on to “his
own place.”
Ø
The fearful irritation (working
sometimes underneath even the calmest
exterior) of an unreal religious
profession. The horrors of a false position
must be counted to be in good
truth multiplied infinitely when the false
position lies within the domain
of religion, and when it consists in the
unreality of the person, rather than in merely
a temporary unsuitableness
to him of the place or the niche
in which he has got fixed. In the recesses
of a lowly spirit, in the calm
retreat and silent shade of religious
meditation, in the all-sacred
shrine of deepest self-surrender and
self-consecration:
o
what music of
angels,
o
what whisperings
of the Spirit,
o
what tones of
Jesus Himself, are heard, and
o
what peace that passeth understanding
steals blissfully in! But of the vacant hollows of religious
unreality:
o
mocking echoes are the tenants habitual, and
o
winds of the
most dismal wail wander endless in them!
The heart of Judas was not in his work these three years. His concealed
irritation must often have been severe. His
thoughts were neither where
his hands or lips were, and chagrin was often his
meat day and night
together. His life was joyless; and as the sun ripens all good fruits
and many a bad fruit too, so as surely, though strangely, does the
sunlessness of joylessness ripen with fearful rapidity and affect the
ill fruits of the
hypocrite and of religious unreality.
And, beyond
any doubt, it had been so now
with Judas. Irritation, inside and unseen,
brings, in bodily disease, many
an unhealthy humor to the surface,
and out of these forms the
loathsome tumor, not infrequently fatal.
It is so with the burnouts and
the turnouts of a religious profession,
career, and office, destitute of
reality. In no other directions do
disease and inward injury rankle
to so deadly effect. Judas is a
great Scripture typical WARNING against:
o
the profession,
o
the work,
o
the ministry, and
o
the dignity of
religion
assumed for whatsoever reason, and by whomsoever, WITHOUT
REALITY! This is par excellence the usurpation that
finds
“its
own fall, while the usurper falls by
some “transgression,”
little
matter what, to find “his own place.”
Ø The suffering to
drift along a huge moral wrong in character and life.
Judas was guilty, certainly, of
such moral wrong. He was guilty of it in
three directions as it affected:
o
his
professed
Master,
o
his so- called fellow-disciples,
and of necessity most of all,
o
HIS OWN SOUL!
If a man lets any serious wrong in his earthly affairs
drift, it is not
long before he
finds it out, for it finds him out. Business rarely
indeed drifts right of itself.
But wrong never drifts right. (I once
saw on a church marquee in
way to do the
wrong thing!” - CY – 2016) Least
of all does that
highest fashion of moral wrong
ever drift right, when the question
lies in the domain that brings
into contact that which is or ought
to be highest in ourselves with
that which is indisputably highest
out of ourselves. (In our church once upon a time, Bro. Bob got
up and talked about dress in the church – as far as I know, by
the mores of the day, it did
no good and that was probably over
ten years ago? – CY – 2016) All
here is matter of consciousness,
of real life, of spirit. It is
past us altogether to say, what we almost
irresistibly imagine, that Judas
was often on the point of making a
clean breast of it; but it is
not past us to say that during those
three years conscience must have
often urged him to:
o
confess his mistake,
o
resign the livery he
wore,
o
quit the Master’s
shamed service, and
o
quit the disciples’
shamed society.
In
that event there would have been “room for repentance;” there
would have been room for help; there would have been
room to
remonstrate, to rebuke, to revive some spark of grace,
to
recover
yet a soul
alive. From some loving brother he
might have heard
anticipated the words, “How
shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3) and again, “It is impossible
for those who were
once enlightened… if they shall
fall away,
to renew them again unto repentance.” (ibid. ch.
4:4-6) And the
falling away might have been at the
last averted. But no! Judas has
no mercy on his own soul, because he will not be
faithful even to it.
The betrayer of
his Master is the
man to be the betrayer of himself.
At every turn the career of
Judas is fraught with solemn lessons for
every one to whom the grace of discipleship
to the Lord Jesus is
offered. The character of the
test ordained for him is scarcely less
plainly or less concisely
written than that ordained for our first
parents. Yet, nevertheless,
thousands of years have not passed
away morally in vain in the
world’s history. And in place of the
test of an humble, practical
obedience to one individual and
merely physical command, the
probation for Judas, and for
every one of ourselves, is self-consecration to JESUS, MASTER
and SAVIOUR, without one reservation, and personal holiness
the sequel.
26 “And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon
Matthias; and
he was numbered
with the eleven apostles.” They gave
lots for them for they
gave forth their lots, Authorized
Version and Textus
Receptus (αὐτοῖς – autois –
for αὐτῶν – auton - their); but the Textus Receptus gives the easiest sense. The
exact mode of taking the lot does not appear. Some think
the name of each
candidate was written on a tablet, and that the first name
which fell out of
the urn after it had been shaken was the one chosen. Some
think the lot
was taken by dice. But however the taking of the lot was
managed, the
effect was to leave the choice to God in answer to prayer.
The Path of Sin and the Way of the
Righteous. (vs. 15-26)
The passage treats of the miserable end of the traitor
apostle and of the
elevation of Matthias to the office from which “Judas
by transgression
fell.” We are
reminded of —
·
THE PATH OF SIN. (vs.
16-20.) This is a gradual descent. “No one
ever became most vile all at once,”
wrote the Roman; and he was right.
Some men descend much more rapidly than others the path of folly and of
sin, but no one leaps at once
from the summit to the foot. We do not
suppose that one day Judas was
devoted to Christ and the next day began
to think how he should betray
him. Probably his evil course was this: first,
surprise at the Lord’s slower
and more quiet method of ministering; then
impatience and even positive
dissatisfaction with him; then growing doubt
of His claims; then cupidity;
then treachery; then remorseful despair; then
suicide, and the “going
to his own place” (v. 25). Those who from being
virtuous become vicious men,
fall in the same way, i.e. by degrees; more or
less slowly: first, the
harboring of one evil thought and another; then laxity
in word; then carelessness and
looseness of action; then occasional
transgression; then habitual
vice; and then the miserable end. Similarly the
passage from godliness to
absorbing worldliness is through weakening of a
sense of obligation:
o
decline of sacred joy;
o
relaxation of holy
habits;
o
growing abandonment of
devotional exercises;
o
losing the soul in
temporal anxieties and passing pleasures. I
In all
such oases as that of Judas there is:
Ø
A gradual withdrawal
of the soul from sympathy and fellowship with
its Lord.
Ø
Acts which pain and
injure him.
Ø
A disastrous end —
death; the reprobation of the good and true, the
retribution of the
righteous Judge.
·
THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. (vs. 21-26.) In the course of
Peter, Matthias, and the other ten
apostles, there were three things
exceptional and peculiar to
their position.
Ø
Bodily attendance on
the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 21).
Ø
Consequent
witness-bearing to the facts of His life and His resurrection
(v. 22).
Ø
Appointment by direct
Divine selection: in the case of the eleven by the
Lord Himself at the commencement
of His work, and in the case of
Matthias by appeal to
supernatural guidance (vs. 23-26). But though
these features were not meant to
be perpetual, there are those of which
they are suggestive which ought
to characterize all true and earnest
followers of Christ.
o
Intimate
association with Him; the intimacy
which is not
“after
the flesh” (see John 20:17), but that which is “after
a
spiritual and heavenly
manner.”
o
Bearing witness
to Christ; not only to the facts of
His life and
of
His victory over death, but to the graciousness of His
character,
the tenderness of His spirit, the excellency of His
service,
the joy of His friendship.
o
Continual resort
to the throne of grace for Divine guidance.
We
do not now use “the lot,” but none
the less do we seek,
and
gain by patient, trustful inquiry, the guidance of
our
God and Savior as we walk the path of life and as we
labor
in the field of holy usefulness.
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The Earnest of Zeal and Fidelity Exhibited
by the Church Expectant
(v. 26)
“And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon
Matthias; and he was
numbered with the eleven apostles.” The events with which
the passage has
to do belong to that brief but remarkable interval of some
eight to ten days
dining which the eleven apostles were bidden to remain in
Jerusalem, and
were, in a sense, left alone, their Master and Savior
having ascended, and
the Spirit, the promised Comforter, not having yet
descended. The brief
interval invites not a little conjecture, but so much the
more than it
otherwise might have done, because of the silence broken in
this very
passage. Had the concord of the eleven, and their united
worship and
services of prayer and praise in company with the large
circle of the
hundred and twenty brethren (as given vers.
12-14), been our only record
of the period, there would have been less stir of
conjecture. But, as it is, we
are led to wonder whether, while Jesus spoke to the eleven
apostles of “the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God,” he had possibly
warranted them
to add one to their number. We can only doubtfully answer
“No.” For
while, on the one hand, it would seem strange, if Christ
had done so, that
Peter should not quote the fact to the general assembly, on
the other hand
it does seem very strange that Peter should take upon
himself to assert the
necessity of such a step at such a time of unsettledness as
regards the
constitution of the Church. Again, beyond the fact that the
two, Joseph and
Matthias, had been companions of Christ and of the
disciples from the time
of the baptism of John (<430126>John 1:26) to the
time of the Resurrection, we
know nothing of them. We do not know on what principle the
two were
selected first of all from any others who might have
answered to the same
qualifications of having “companied with” the disciples; we
do not know
how the casting of lots was managed; we do not know whether
Matthias
ever really ranked with the apostles to any practical
purpose, though he
was ‘voted in;” nor do we know one authentic syllable of
his succeeding
work or of his death. To conjecture is as unsatisfying as
it is easy. Setting
aside any detail of mere curiosity, we should certainly
have liked to know
whether the transaction of this election was authorized; if
it were not,
whether nevertheless it was legitimate, or whether it was
possibly a fresh
illustration of the ready zeal, without authority, of
Peter. It need scarcely
be said, however, that in the absence of any evidence or of
any strong
reason to believe the latter, we assume the legitimateness
of the whole
proceeding. And on this showing we notice —
shown a forward zeal. In the
fort of many, many characters lurks also their
weakness. Purified from this,
the strength becomes apparent again, and the
advantage becomes real. It is he
who now takes the lead, and says, “It
behooves” to fill up the perfect number.
historic fact of the
resurrection of Jesus in its proper seat in the Church for
all time. The “eleven,” to be
now strengthened by one more, are to accept
this as their chiefest mission and
commission, to be “witnesses of the
Resurrection.”
that part of the work and of the
organizing of the work of Christ is to
devolve upon man, and upon those
who were the already “chosen”
apostles, together with the body
of his people and disciples. He calls upon
all to join, and arranges for
all to join in this proposed election.
wisdom and the choice and the
appointment are to rest with him whom we
call the Head of the Church. It
may not be certain that, so far as the terms
of Peter’s prayer go, he means
it to be addressed exclusively to the risen
Lord, yet even this is most
probable; and all the more so from his likely
recalling of the words of Jesus
himself (<431516>John 15:16; 6:70; 21:17).
The Apparent Incompleteness of our Lord’s
Life (v. 1)
It was but a beginning. The word “began” is as
characteristic of St. Luke
as “straightway” is of St. Mark; it occurs
thirty-one times in his Gospel.
The idea of Christ’s life on earth as being a “beginning”
fits well into the
Pauline theology, which sets in such prominence the present
and
continuous working of the risen, glorified, living Savior.
To the apostles’
first view our Lord’s earthly life must have seemed a
failure; they could not
know how it was to be continued and completed. From our
enlarged
knowledge we can apprehend it as being the necessary
introduction to his
present and permanent spiritual work. Illustrations
of apparent
incompleteness of earthly life may be found in the story of
Moses, who did
not cross the Jordan; and David, who did not build
the temple. A man’s life
is never incomplete if he does well his appointed piece.
computation it extended only
over three years, and many think the time
was even shorter than this.
Thirty years were spent in secluded
preparations; and we may well
ask — What great work could any man
accomplish in three brief years?
And yet some of the most powerful and
permanent influences recorded in
human history have come from men
whose lives were short.
Illustrations are found in every department of life;
and the common observation has
gained expression in the proverb, “Those
whom the gods love die young.” Life
may be very short, and yet very full
of power and impulse for good.
“He liveth long who liveth
well.”
our Lord could not make it what
men would call “complete,” “rounded
off.” On his last day he had to
admit that it must remain, to men’s view,
seemingly imperfect. “I have
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot
bear them now.” So with many
human lives, the close comes suddenly, and
we wish we could tarry to get
things completed. But we must leave them,
as Christ did; and we may be
restfully assured that, if our work has been
good, God will find for it completeness
by finding its fitting into his great
plan.
a “preface,” a “threshold,” an
“ante-chamber,” an outward earthly show to
help us in realizing a
continuous spiritual reality. The remembrance of what
was is to aid us in realizing what/s. And, in a yet fuller
sense, that brief
human life was to lay the
intellectual, moral, and religious bases on which
the Divine relations with men
were from that time to rest. “It behooved
Christ thus to suffer, and to
enter into his glory.”
distinct forms of Conception;
such as:
Ø
The work of the
Holy Spirit.
Ø
The actual
presence of Christ in His Church.
Ø
The permanent
office of Christ as the one human Mediator,
Intercessor, and
High Priest.
The relation of the “continuing”
work to the “introductory is shown in our
Lord’s statement concerning the
Holy Spirit: “He shall take of mine, and
shall show it unto you.” So far
as the continuance of Christ’s earthly life
and influence is concerned, we
find it in the holy living of his Church, and
the teachings of apostles
and ministers. In application, it may be urged that
a work so graciously introduced
in our Lord’s life on earth, and so
graciously continued in
his present working in his Church, must have its
completion some day. Such completion
is reached in the believer’s “full
sanctification;” and, for the
Church, in that day when the “kingdoms of this
world shall have become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ,” and
the “Church” shall be the
redeemed world.
The Threefold Aspect of our Lord’s Human
Life (v. 1)
The aspects that need to be so carefully recorded. Two are
stated in the
text — to do, and to teach; the third we
gather from the Gospel itself — to
suffer.
of life;” and upon our Lord’s
daily life and doings we, first of all,
reverently fix our gaze.
Ø
He came to live; to
express in pure, beautiful character, and in sweet,
self-denying, helpful
intercourse with men, the example of the holy life.
Show how this became inspiration
for all sincere hearts, and conviction for
all self-servers and
time-servers.
Ø
He came to work
mighty works. In miracles, of healing and of power,
revealing to men the true God
and Father, in whom we “live, and move,
and have our being;” and making
trust in the “living God the Savior”
possible for man.
harmony with the life, and
unfolded the gracious design and mission of the
works.
Ø
He taught the
people. As in the sermon on the mount, by
his parables,
and in the temple porch at
Ø
He taught the
disciples. By explanation of parable and
miracle, by
private instructions, by trial
missions, and in his modes of dealing with
them.
Ø
He taught his
enemies. By severe warnings and
denunciations, seeking
to arouse the sense of sin,
in which alone lies the hope of salvation.
personally, in carrying out such a mission; but he, further, suffered
mediately and vicariously, as
“bearing our sins.” For us it “pleased the
Lord to bruise him.” Conclude by
working out the harmony of this
threefold aspect, in the light
of Christ’s perfect and complete obedience to
his heavenly Father’s will. He
did, he taught, he suffered, all that will. And
also in the light of our
Redeemer’s minion as the Savior of the world. He is
therein shown to be the perfect
Savior.
The Holy Ghost in Christ (v. 2)
The statement in this verse is that our Lord spake, and gave his parting
injunctions to his disciples, as one who was “filled with
the Holy Ghost.”
Christ’s Divine nature is set before us in varying forms;
and we should take
care lest the demands of Christian doctrine so absorb us as
to prevent our
receiving the whole scriptural impression.
Especially difficult it is to
connect the divinity of Christ with the revelation of the
Divine Spirit, the
Holy Ghost. The difficulty is in part occasioned by our
failing to associate
the Spirit, in the apostles and in the older prophets, with
the Holy Ghost in
Christ. The differences need to be carefully marked,
but the samenesses
also need to be brought to light. We do not fully realize
that God can be in
man; but precisely this
is brought home to us by the teaching of the Holy
Ghost in Christ, the man; and the representation that his
human words and
laws come to us with the perfection and authority stamped
by the
indwelling Holy Ghost. Scripture gives us three distinct
representations of
the relations of the Holy Spirit to Christ himself, to
his miracles, and to his
teachings.
the scene of his baptism. The
symbolic “dove” brooded over him, or settled
on him, and the Spirit of God
“came upon him.” This took place at the very
entrance upon his ministry, so
that throughout his ministry we are to
conceive of him as specially
endowed, as one in whom dwelt the Spirit
“above measure” (see <420401>Luke 4:1; <430334>John 3:34). The sense in which the
Spirit came to Christ
needs careful treatment. From his birth the Divine
Spirit was his Spirit; and
in this lies the deep mystery of his Godhead. The
Spirit that came to him
at his baptism was the specific Divine endowment
for the ministry to which he was
called, and so it and the descent of the
Holy Ghost on the disciples at
Pentecost help to explain each other; and
they show that the Spirit may
still be with us in a twofold sense. As “born
again,” he is our very life; as
called to any work, he comes to us as a
specific endowment for that work.
It is, therefore, right to realize the
Spirit’s permanent dwelling in
the believer, and at the same time right to
pray that he may come to us for
special needs.
CHRIST. This was our Lord’s
teaching concerning his miracles, and it lies
at the basis of his solemn
warning to the blaspheming Pharisees. The “sin
against the Holy Ghost” is shown
to be precisely this — declaring the
miracles of Christ, which
manifested the presence and power of the Holy
Ghost, to have been wrought by
devilish agencies. So vital is it to the
Christian faith and life that we
should recognize the Holy Ghost in Christ’s
mighty works, that the sin of
the Pharisees is declared to be “beyond
forgiveness.” In measure the
same is true of the witness and work of
Christ’s Church now. It is
wrought in the power of the Holy Ghost. It is
mighty only as this conviction
dwells in the workers, and opens the hearts
of those who receive the witness
and are the subjects of the work. The one
thing that Christ’s Church needs
is to be lifted up to the solemn and
inspiring conviction — the
Holy Ghost is with us.
CHRIST. This is set forth
separately because, though, in Christ, miracle
and teaching went together,
teaching, speaking, preaching is the one great
agency of his Church, and
therefore we do well to see the truth in precise
relation to it. To this
point our Lord directed the attention of the disciples
in the “upper chamber.” All he had
spoken to them had been “given him to
speak,” and just so they might
be assured that the Divine Spirit would give
them right and fitting words.
And in our text the last injunctions and
counsels and commands are
directly traced to the Holy Ghost. But,
properly regarded, the sphere of
the Spirit’s operation is the human will —
the real source and spring of
all activity, the center of the human vitality,
From the teaching of what the
Spirit was, beyond measure, in Christ, we
may learn what the Holy Ghost can
be, within measure, in man; what he
may be to apostles and to us. In
conclusion, show, practically, that the
necessary condition of the
abiding of the Holy Ghost in Christ was his
perfect openness and
entire submission to the Spirit’s lead; and that this
Christ-like openness is still the one condition of the Spirit’s abiding and
working in us. Impress the
warnings of the apostles against the danger of
resisting, quenching, and grieving the Holy Ghost.
Sensible Proofs of Christ’s Resurrection (v.
3)
The resurrection of our Lord is declared to have been a literal
and
historical fact, of
which satisfactory proofs could be given — such proofs
as men are accustomed to accept. Here it is stated that our
Lord “showed
himself alive;” that he “appeared -unto the disciples” (see
Revised
Version), that the proofs he offered of his restored life
were “infallible,” as
well as “numerous; i.e. they were not merely
“probable,” or
“circumstantial,” they were such as naturally and properly
carried
conviction. The disciples were not deluded or deceived;
they acted as
reasonable men, and accepted the fact of the Resurrection
because
convinced by adequate proofs. But when the historical fact
is thus fully
assured, we must be prepared to receive the further fact which
our Lord’s
ascension declares, viz. that his resurrection was
essentially a spiritual
resurrection. We have in it the assurance that he himself,
the spiritual
person, Jesus, lived; we have but the formal part of
the truth before us
when we say that his body was restored to life. The
bodily manifestations
during the forty days were necessary, in order to give the
disciples and us
such proofs as they and we can apprehend, of the real
continuance of the
life of Jesus himself; through these sensible proofs our
minds grasp the fact
that “he ever liveth.” The
“spiritual” cannot be apprehended by us save by
the help of figure, body, and form; and our Lord’s whole
life on the earth is
a gracious bringing home to our carnal minds of spiritual
truths and
realities by sensible appearances and deeds and words. Luke
briefly
declares the sufficiency of the proofs of the Resurrection.
Each point may
be illustrated and enforced by the facts detailed in the
Gospels, and by the
summary given in 1 Corinthians 15.
was forty days. Any sudden and
passing manifestation of Christ might be
explained as a mental delusion
or a ghostly vision. The time, in this case,
gave sufficient opportunity for
testing the veritableness of Christ’s restored
life. Spirit-manifestations
never remain for forty days.
WERE MANY, For them see Paul’s
summary (1 Corinthians 15.). Some
were given at Jerusalem; others
in Galilee; others, again, at Olivet. Some
on the shore; others on the
mountain; others, again, in the house. Some
with the sound of voice which
all recognized; others with the showing of
the crucifixion marks; others
with the sharing of bodily food; and yet others
with the signs of the old
miraculous power. Impress the force that lies in
cumulative evidence.
VARIOUS. Individual men may be
selected, such as the skeptical Thomas,
or the questioning Philip, and
the value of their testimony may be shown.
But equally important is the
witness of Peter’s intensity and John’s insight.
Add the evidence of the women,
and that of “five hundred” disciples, to the
majority of whom personal appeal
could be made when Paul wrote to the
Corinthians. Show what a stream
of witnesses. They “crowd the court.”
Was ever any fact more
adequately assured by sober testimony and sensible
proofs, such as ought to carry
conviction?
WAS THE SAME. The importance of
this continuity needs to be carefully
shown. Jesus resumed his work,
carried it on from the point where he left
off, completing his personal
instructions to his disciples, with precise
adaptation to his new
relations as the risen and ascending Lord, and to
their new duty as the preachers of his gospel to the world. Really in this
lies
the best proof of the
Resurrection. Impress the security of the foundation
fact on which the gospel rests.
Christ “is risen,” and our preaching is “not
vain.”
The Promise of the Father (vs. 4-5)
It was a characteristic feature of our Lord’s teaching, and
more especially
of the closing portions of it, that he sought to set his
Father, not himself,
prominently before the minds of his disciples: e.g. “The
Father that is in
me, he doeth the works;” “I do the will of him who sent
me,” etc. So,
when speaking of the gift of the Spirit to the Church, our
Lord impresses
on the disciples that they must think of that Spirit as his
Father’s gift, made
to them for his sake. We are to regard the
bestowment of the Spirit in
different ways.
1. He is the very
Spirit given as Divine endowment for the fulfilling of the
old prophets’ missions; given as Divine endowment for the
mission of the
apostles and of the Church.
2. He is the fulfillment
of the assurance that Christ would “come again,” to
abide ever with his Church.
3. He is sent by
the Son.
4. He is the gift of
the Father.
5. He is sent by the Father
and the Son. Allusion may be made to the
disputes and separation of the Eastern and Western Churches
on the
subject of the “procession of the Holy Ghost;” and the
importance of
accepting the “many-sidedness” of Divine revelation should
be urged, even
if intellectually we find ourselves unable to fit the
varied aspects into a
satisfactory harmony. Our Lord would glorify the Father to
our thought,
by assuring us that the unspeakably precious gift of the
Holy Ghost is his
gift to us, the abiding sign and pledge of his “so great
love,” and the
fulfillment of his own “promise” to us. This point we take
for enlargement
and enforcement.
Ø
By God, but by God
conceived as the “Father;” so we may find in it
signs of the fatherly wisdom,
tender consideration, and gracious adaptation
to our need. Impress how the preciousness
of the Spirit to us is enhanced
by this assurance — he is our
Father’s gift. His “Great-heart guide” for his
pilgrim sons.
Ø
By God, but through
Christ, who conveys to us our Father’s promise.
See the special occasions (<431416>John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15, etc.).
Show how the messenger, through
whom the Father’s promise is made,
enhances the value of the
promise. An element of tender feeling and
sympathy is added to it.
coming of the Holy Ghost, under sensible figures, as a Divine
ordination
and endowment of the apostles
and early Church for their mission. This
ordination may be compared with
that of Christ after his baptism, and the
figures under which the Spirit
came in the two cases should be compared.
For Christ, a symbolic dove; for
apostles, symbolic wind and fire. Set out
its permanent form — the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the believer, as
his seal, earnest, and
assurance of the culture of the spiritual life; and the
abiding of the Holy Ghost in the
Church, as its inspiration to the fulfillment
of its mission.
Ø
Because of the
dependency of the disciples on Divine aid. Then and now
disciples are not “sufficient of
themselves;” “without Christ we can do
nothing.”
Ø Because in carrying out the Divine purpose of redemption
the bodily
presence of Christ had to be removed, and so a sense of loneliness
and
helplessness would oppress the
disciples.
Ø
Because God is ever
wanting to help us on from carnal and bodily to
spiritual conceptions of himself and his work, both in us and by
us.
Conclude by showing how the
promise gains character by being called the
Father’s. It is evidently a promise made to sons. Then
practically and
forcibly impress that our Father
will only keep his promise if we keep the
spirit and temper, the openness
and obedience, of loving and trusting
sonship.
Carnal Conceptions of Christ’s Kingdom (vs.
6-7)
With these our Lord had to do battle all through his
ministry. These so
filled the minds of his disciples that they were unable to
receive aright
much of his spiritual teachings. Many of our Lord’s sayings
can be
explained as being designed to correct this mistake, remove
this prejudice,
and adequately assure his disciples and us of the spiritual
nature of the
kingdom he came to set up. Though not in precisely the same
way, yet
quite as truly, the visibility and outward circumstance of
Christ’s Church
may, in our day, occupy our thought rather than its spiritual
character and
work, and therefore our Lord’s cautions to his apostles may
be applicable
to us. The dream of an “outward and visible” kingdom has
not yet
altogether faded, and given place to the sober reality of
the existing
“inward and spiritual” one. Christ is a King, but he is
King of truth-seekers;
he is “Lord of lambs the lowly, King of saints the holy.”
Show what the
carnal conceptions were that the apostles cherished: the
breaking off of the
Roman yoke; the restoration of Israelite independence; the
resumption of
the Davidic kingdom under the Messiah. Show —
the tone of prophecy and
Messianic allusion before and after the
“Captivity.” Tendency of
national circumstances to set prominently the
promise of a Deliverer and
King, and to set aside the figure of Messiah as
a crushed Sufferer. Then
show the influence exerted by the Messianic
conception of Daniel, and
yet that the Jews did not take it in its entirety.
Further point out how the Maccabean princes became Messianic models,
and the idea cherished was that
Messiah would prove to be a national Hero
and Savior, accomplishing the
work permanently which Judas Maccabeus
had only achieved temporarily.
The merely national idea of Messiah cannot
be based on a full treatment of
the Messianic representations of Holy
Scripture.
national condition in our Lord’s
time. Patriotic feeling was crushed down
by the strong Roman rule; but
patriotism, though it may be crushed down,
cannot be crushed out, and
indeed only becomes more dangerous to
oppressors by being silenced.
Partly by the hopeless condition of religion,
which called for a great
reformer; and, in the later monarchy, the reformers
had been kings. Partly by
the personal ambitions of the disciples, as
illustrated by the request of
the sons of Zebedee for the first places in the
new court. To be faithful to the
truth has often required resistance to
surrounding sentiments and
circumstances. Such resistance is only made by
high-minded men.
Take:
Ø
The general tone of
his teaching, as illustrated in the sermon on the
mount.
Ø
The prominence in
which he set his sufferings, especially after the
Transfiguration.
Ø
The rebuke of those
who would use carnal weapons for his defence, as
to Peter outside the
Ø
The distinct
explanation of the nature of his kingship, as stated to Pilate.
In spite of all his efforts with
his disciples, we find the carnal notions of
Messiah lingering in them (see <421911>Luke 19:11; 24:21); and they seem to
have been revived by that very
resurrection which should have finally
removed them. This is indicated
in the text. Our Lord’s last effort to
destroy them is full of wisdom
and gentleness. He says in effect, “Don’t
think about it; bend your whole
mind and heart to two things —
o
your great life-work,
and
o
the Divine presence
that will be with you for its fulfillment” (v. 8).
The true corrective for intellectual
error is still that which our Lord
commands, viz. Christian work.