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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J O H N.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XX.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This evangelist, though he began not his gospel as the rest did, yet
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concludes it as they did, with the history of Christ' resurrection; not
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of the thing itself, for none of them describe how he rose, but of the
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proofs and evidences of it, which demonstrated that he was risen. The
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proofs of Christ's resurrection, which we have in this chapter, are
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I. Such as occurred immediately at the sepulchre.
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1. The sepulchre found empty, and the graveclothes in good order,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:1-10">ver. 1-10</A>.
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2. Two angels appearing to Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:11-13">ver. 11-13</A>.
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3. Christ himself appearing to her,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:14-18">ver. 14-18</A>.
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II. Such as occurred afterwards at the meetings of the apostles.
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1. At one, the same day at evening that Christ rose, when Thomas was
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absent,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:19-25">ver. 19-25</A>.
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2. At another, that day seven-night, when Thomas was with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:26-31">ver. 26-31</A>.
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What is related here is mostly what was omitted by the other
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evangelists.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Joh20_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Joh20_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Resurrection.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The first <I>day</I> of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when
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it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken
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away from the sepulchre.
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2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other
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disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken
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away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they
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have laid him.
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3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came
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to the sepulchre.
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4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun
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Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
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5 And he stooping down, <I>and looking in,</I> saw the linen clothes
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lying; yet went he not in.
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6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the
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sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
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7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the
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linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
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8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to
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the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
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9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise
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again from the dead.
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10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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There was no one thing of which the apostles were more concerned to
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produce substantial proof than the resurrection of their Master,
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1. Because it was that which he himself appealed to as the last and
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most cogent proof of his being the Messiah. Those that would not
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believe other signs were referred to this sign of the prophet Jonas.
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And therefore enemies were most solicitous to stifle the notice of
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this, because it was put on this issue, and, if he be risen, they are
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not only murderers, but murderers of the Messiah.
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2. Because it was upon this the performance of his undertaking for our
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redemption and salvation did depend. If he give his life a ransom, and
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do not resume it, it does not appear that his giving it was accepted as
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a satisfaction. If he be imprisoned for our debt, and lie by it, we are
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undone,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:17">1 Cor. xv. 17</A>.
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3. Because he never showed himself alive after his resurrection to all
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the people,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+10:40,41">Acts x. 40, 41</A>.
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We should have said, "Let his ignominious death be private, and his
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glorious resurrection public." But God's thoughts are not as ours; and
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he ordered it that his death should be public before the sun, by the
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same token that the sun blushed and hid his face upon it. But the
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demonstrations of his resurrection should be reserved as a favour for
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his particular friends, and by them be published to the world, that
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those might be blessed who have not seen, and yet have believed. The
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method of proof is such as gives abundant satisfaction to those who are
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piously disposed to receive the doctrine and law of Christ, and yet
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leaves room for those to object who are willingly ignorant and
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obstinate in their unbelief. And this is a fair trial, suited to the
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case of those who are probationers.</P>
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<P>
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In
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:1-10">these verses</A>
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we have the first step towards the proof of Christ's resurrection,
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which is, that the sepulchre was found empty. <I>He is not here,</I>
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and, if so, they must tell us where he is or we conclude him risen.</P>
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<P>
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I. Mary Magdalene, coming to the sepulchre, finds the <I>stone taken
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away.</I> This evangelist does not mention the other women that went
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with Mary Magdalene, but here only, because she was the most active and
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forward in this visit to the sepulchre, and in her appeared the most
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affection; and it was an affection kindled by a good cause, in
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consideration of the great things Christ had done for her. Much was
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forgiven her, therefore she loved much. She had shown her affection to
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him while he lived, attended his doctrine, ministered to him of her
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substance,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+8:2,3">Luke viii. 2, 3</A>.
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It does not appear that she had any business now at Jerusalem, but to
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wait upon him for the women were not bound to go up to the feast, and
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probably she and others followed him the closer, as Elisha did Elijah,
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now that they knew their Master would shortly be <I>taken from their
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head,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+2:1-6">2 Kings ii. 1-6</A>.
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The continued instances of her respect to him at and after his death
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prove the sincerity of her love. Note, Love to Christ, if it be
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cordial, will be constant. Her love to Christ was <I>strong as
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death,</I> the death of the cross, for it stood by that; <I>cruel as
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the grave,</I> for it made a visit to that, and was not deterred by its
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terrors.</P>
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<P>
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1. She <I>came to the sepulchre,</I> to wash the dead body with her
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tears, for she <I>went to the grave, to weep there,</I> and to
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<I>anoint it with the ointment</I> she had prepared. The grave is a
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house that people do not care for making visits to. They that are
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<I>free among the dead</I> are <I>separated from the living;</I> and it
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must be an extraordinary affection to the person which will endear his
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grave to us. It is especially frightful to the weak and timourous sex.
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Could she, that had not strength enough to <I>roll away the stone,</I>
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pretend to such a presence of mind as to enter the grave? The Jews'
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religion forbade them to meddle any more than needs must with graves
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and dead bodies. In visiting Christ's sepulchre she exposed herself,
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and perhaps the disciples, to the suspicion of a design to <I>steal him
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away;</I> and what real service could she do him by it? But her love
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answers these, and a thousand such objections. Note,
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(1.) We must study to do honour to Christ in those things wherein yet
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we cannot be profitable to him.
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(2.) Love to Christ will take off the terror of death and the grave. If
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we cannot come to Christ but through that darksome valley, even in
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that, if we love him, we shall <I>fear no evil.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. She came as soon as she could, for she came,
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(1.) Upon the <I>first day of the week,</I> as soon as ever the sabbath
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was gone, longing, not to <I>sell corn</I> and to <I>set forth
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wheat</I> (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:5">Amos viii. 5</A>),
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but to be at the sepulchre. Those that love Christ will take the first
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opportunity of testifying their respect to him. This was the first
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Christian sabbath, and she begins it accordingly with enquiries after
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Christ. She had spent the day before in commemorating the work of
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creation, and therefore rested; but now she is upon search into the
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work of redemption, and therefore makes a visit to Christ and him
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crucified.
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(2.) She came <I>early, while it was yet dark;</I> so early did she set
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out. Note, Those who would seek Christ so as to find him must seek him
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early; that is,
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[1.] Seek him solicitously, with such a care as even breaks the sleep;
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be up early for fear of missing him.
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[2.] Seek him industriously; we must deny ourselves and our own repose
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in pursuit of Christ.
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[3.] Seek him betimes, early in our days, early every day. <I>My voice
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shalt thou hear in the morning.</I> That day is in a fair way to be
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well ended that is thus begun. Those that diligently enquire after
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Christ <I>while it is yet dark</I> shall have such light given them
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concerning him as shall shine <I>more and more.</I></P>
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<P>
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3. She found the stone taken away, which she had seen <I>rolled to the
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door of the sepulchre.</I> Now this was,
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(1.) A surprise to her, for she little expected it. Christ crucified is
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the fountain of life. His grave is one of the wells of salvation; if we
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come to it in faith; though to a carnal heart it be a spring shut up,
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we shall find the stone rolled away (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+29:10">Gen. xxix. 10</A>)
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and free access to the comforts of it. Surprising comforts are the
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frequent encouragements of early seekers.
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(2.) It was the beginning of a glorious discovery; the Lord was risen,
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though she did not at first apprehend it so. Note,
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[1.] Those that are most constant in their adherence to Christ, and
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most diligent in their enquiries after him, have commonly the first and
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sweetest notices of the divine grace. Mary Magdalene, who followed
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Christ to the last in his humiliation, met him with the first in his
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exaltation.
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[2.] God ordinarily reveals himself and his comforts to us by degrees;
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to raise our expectations and quicken our enquiries.</P>
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<P>
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II. Finding the stone taken away, she hastens back to Peter and John,
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who probably lodged together at that end of the town, not far off, and
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acquaints them with it: "<I>They have taken the Lord out of the
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sepulchre,</I> envying him the honour of such a decent burying-place,
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<I>and we know not where they have laid him,</I> nor where to find him,
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that we may pay him the remainder of our last respects." Observe here,
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1. What a notion Mary had of the thing as it now appeared; she found
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the stone gone, looked into the grave, and saw it empty. Now one would
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expect that the first thought that offered itself would have been,
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Surely the Lord is risen; for whenever he had told them that he should
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be crucified, which she had now lately seen accomplished, he still
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subjoined in the same breath that <I>the third day he should rise
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again.</I> Could she feel the great earthquake that happened as she was
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coming to the sepulchre, or getting ready to come, and now see the
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grave empty, and yet have no thought of the resurrection enter into her
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mind? what, no conjecture, no suspicion of it? So it seems by the odd
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construction she puts upon the removing of the stone, which was very
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far fetched. Note, When we come to reflect upon our own conduct in a
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<I>cloudy and dark day,</I> we shall stand amazed at our dulness and
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forgetfulness, that we could miss of such thoughts as afterwards appear
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obvious, and how they could be so far out of the way when we had
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occasion for them. She suggested, <I>They have taken away the Lord;</I>
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either the chief priests have taken him away, to put him in a worse
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place, or Joseph and Nicodemus have, upon second thoughts, taken him
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away, to avoid the ill-will of the Jews. Whatever was her suspicion, it
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seems it was a great vexation and disturbance to her that the body was
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gone; whereas, if she had understood it rightly, nothing could be more
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happy. Note, Weak believers often make that the matter of their
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complaint which is really just ground of hope, and matter of joy. We
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cry out that this and the other creature-comfort are taken away, and we
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know not how to retrieve them, when indeed the removal of our temporal
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comforts, which we lament, is in order to the resurrection of our
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spiritual comforts, which we should rejoice in too.
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2. What a narrative she made of it to Peter and John. She did not stand
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poring upon the grief herself, but acquaints her friends with it. Note,
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The communication of sorrows is one good improvement of the communion
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of saints. Observe, Peter, though he had denied his Master, had not
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deserted his Master's friends; by this appears the sincerity of his
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repentance, that he associated with the disciple whom Jesus loved. And
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the disciples' keeping up their intimacy with him as formerly,
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notwithstanding his fall, teaches us to restore those with a spirit of
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meekness that have been faulty. If God has received them upon their
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repentance, why should not we?</P>
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<P>
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III. Peter and John go with all speed to the sepulchre, to satisfy
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themselves of the truth of what was told them, and to see if they could
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make any further discoveries,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>.
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Some think that the other disciples were with Peter and John when the
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news came; for they <I>told these things to the eleven,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+24:9">Luke xxiv. 9</A>.
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Others think that Mary Magdalene told her story only to Peter and John,
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and that the other women told theirs to the other disciples; yet none
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of them went to the sepulchre but Peter and John, who were two of the
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first three of Christ's disciples, often distinguished from the rest by
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special favours. Note, It is well when those that are more honoured
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than others with the privileges of disciples are more active than
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others in the duty of disciples, more willing to take pains and run
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hazards in a good work.
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1. See here what use we should make of the experience and observations
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of others. When Mary told them what she had seen, they would not in
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this sense take her word, but would go and see with their own eyes. Do
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others tell us of the comfort and benefit of ordinances? Let us be
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engaged thereby to make trial of them. Come and see how good it is to
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draw near to God.
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2. See how ready we should be to share with our friends in their cares
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and fears. Peter and John hastened to the sepulchre, that they might be
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able to give Mary a satisfactory answer to her jealousies. We should
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not grudge any pains we take for the succouring and comforting of the
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weak and timorous followers of Christ.
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3. See what haste we should make in a good work, and when we are going
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on a good errand. Peter and John consulted neither their ease nor their
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gravity, but ran to the sepulchre, that they might show the strength of
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their zeal and affection, and might lose no time. If we are in the way
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of God's commandments, we should run in that way.
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4. See what a good thing it is to have good company in a good work.
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Perhaps neither of these disciples would have ventured to the sepulchre
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alone, but, being both together, they made no difficulty of it. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:9">Eccl. iv. 9</A>.
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5. See what a laudable emulation it is among disciples to strive which
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shall excel, which shall exceed, in that which is good. It was no
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breach of ill manners for John, though the younger, to outrun Peter,
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and get before him. We must do our best, and neither envy those that
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can do better, nor despise those that do as they can, though they come
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behind.
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(1.) He that got foremost in this race as <I>the disciple whom Jesus
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loved</I> in a special manner, and who therefore in a special manner
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loved Jesus. Note, Sense of Christ's love to us, kindling love in us to
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him again, will make us to excel in virtue. The love of Christ will
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constrain us more than any thing to abound in duty.
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(2.) He that was cast behind was Peter, who had denied his Master, and
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was in sorrow and shame for it, and this clogged him as a weight; sense
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of guilt cramps us, and hinders our enlargement in the service of God.
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When conscience is offended we lose ground.</P>
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<P>
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IV. Peter and John, having come to the sepulchre, prosecute the
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enquiry, yet improve little in the discovery.</P>
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<P>
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1. John went no further than Mary Magdalene had done.
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(1.) He had the curiosity to look into the sepulchre, and saw it was
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empty. He <I>stooped down,</I> and <I>looked in.</I> Those that would
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|
find the knowledge of Christ must stoop down, and look in, must with a
|
|
humble heart submit to the authority of divine revelation, and must
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<I>look wistly.</I>
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(2.) Yet he had not courage to go into the sepulchre. The warmest
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|
affections are not always accompanied with the boldest resolutions;
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|
many are swift to run religion's race that are not stout to fight her
|
|
battles.</P>
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<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Peter, though he came last, went in first, and made a more exact
|
|
discovery than John had done,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though John outran him, he did not therefore turn back, nor stand
|
|
still, but made after him as fast as he could; and, while John was with
|
|
much caution looking in, he came, and with great courage <I>went into
|
|
the sepulchre.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Observe here the boldness of Peter, and how God dispenses his
|
|
gifts variously. John could out-run Peter, but Peter could out-dare
|
|
John. It is seldom true of the same persons, what David says poetically
|
|
of Saul and Jonathan, that they were <I>swifter than eagles,</I> and
|
|
yet <I>stronger than lions,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+1:23">2 Sam. i. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some disciples are quick, and they are useful to quicken those that are
|
|
slow; others are bold, and they are useful to embolden those that are
|
|
timorous; <I>diversity of gifts, but one Spirit.</I> Peter's venturing
|
|
into the sepulchre may teach us,
|
|
|
|
[1.] That those who in good earnest seek after Christ must not frighten
|
|
themselves with bugbears and foolish fancies: "There is a lion in the
|
|
way, a ghost in the grave."
|
|
|
|
[2.] That good Christians need not be afraid of the grave, since Christ
|
|
has lain in it; for to them there is nothing in it frightful; it is not
|
|
the pit of destruction, nor are the worms in it never-dying worms. Let
|
|
us therefore not indulge, but conquer, the fear we are apt to conceive
|
|
upon the sight of a dead body, or being alone among the graves; and,
|
|
since we must be dead and in the grave shortly, let us make death and
|
|
the grave familiar to us, as our near kindred,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+17:14">Job xvii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
[3.] We must be willing to go through the grave to Christ; that way he
|
|
went to his glory, and so must we. If we cannot see God's face and
|
|
live, better die than never see it. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:25">Job xix. 25</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Observe the posture in which he found things in the sepulchre.
|
|
|
|
[1.] Christ had left his grave-clothes behind him there; what clothes
|
|
he appeared in to his disciples we are not told, but he never appeared
|
|
in his grave-clothes, as ghosts are supposed to do; no, he laid them
|
|
aside, <I>First,</I> Because he arose to die no more; death was to have
|
|
no more dominion over him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:9">Rom. vi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Lazarus came out with his grave-clothes on, for he was to use them
|
|
again; but Christ, rising to an immortal life, came out free from those
|
|
incumbrances. <I>Secondly,</I> because he was going to be clothed with
|
|
the robes of glory, therefore he lays aside these rags; in the heavenly
|
|
paradise there will be no more occasion for clothes than there was in
|
|
the earthly. The ascending prophet dropped his mantle. <I>Thirdly,</I>
|
|
When we arise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, we
|
|
must leave our grave-clothes behind us, must put off all our
|
|
corruptions. <I>Fourthly,</I> Christ left those in the grave, as it
|
|
were, for our use if the grave be a bed to the saints, thus he hath
|
|
sheeted that bed, and made it ready for them; and the napkin by itself
|
|
is of use for the mourning survivors to <I>wipe away their tears.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] The grave-clothes were found in very good order, which serves for
|
|
an evidence that his body was not stolen away while men slept. Robbers
|
|
of tombs have been known to take away the clothes and leave the body;
|
|
but none [prior to the practices of modern resurrectionists] ever took
|
|
away the body and left the clothes, especially when it was fine linen
|
|
and new,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+15:46">Mark xv. 46</A>.
|
|
|
|
Any one would rather choose to carry a dead body in its clothes than
|
|
naked. Or, if those that were supposed to have stolen it would have
|
|
left the grave-clothes behind, yet it cannot be supposed they should
|
|
find leisure to fold up the linen.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) See how Peter's boldness encouraged John; now he took heart and
|
|
ventured in
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
and <I>he saw and believed;</I> not barely believed what Mary said,
|
|
that the body was gone (no thanks to him to believe what <I>he
|
|
saw</I>), but he began to believe that Jesus was risen to life again,
|
|
though his faith, as yet, was weak and wavering.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] John followed Peter in venturing. It should seem, he durst not
|
|
have gone into the sepulchre if Peter had not gone in first. Note, It
|
|
is good to be emboldened in a good work by the boldness of others. The
|
|
dread of difficulty and danger will be taken off by observing the
|
|
resolution and courage of others. Perhaps John's quickness had made
|
|
Peter run faster, and now Peter's boldness makes John venture further,
|
|
than otherwise either the one or the other would have done; though
|
|
Peter had lately fallen under the disgrace of being a deserter, and
|
|
John had been advanced to the honour of a confidant (Christ having
|
|
committed his mother to him), yet John not only associated with Peter,
|
|
but thought it no disparagement to follow him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] Yet, it should seem, John got the start of Peter in believing.
|
|
Peter saw and wondered
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+24:12">Luke xxiv. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
but John saw and believed. A mind disposed to contemplation may perhaps
|
|
sooner receive the evidence of divine truth than a mind disposed to
|
|
action. But what was the reason that they were so slow of heart to
|
|
believe? The evangelist tells us
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
as yet they <I>knew not the scripture,</I> that is, they did not
|
|
consider, and apply, and duly improve, what they knew of the scripture,
|
|
that he must <I>rise again from the dead.</I> The Old Testament spoke
|
|
of the resurrection of the Messiah; they believed him to be the
|
|
Messiah; he himself had often told them that, according to the
|
|
scriptures of the Old Testament, he should rise again; but they had not
|
|
presence of mind sufficient by these to explain the present
|
|
appearances. Observe here, <I>First,</I> How unapt the disciples
|
|
themselves were, at first, to believe the resurrection of Christ, which
|
|
confirms the testimony they afterwards gave with so much assurance
|
|
concerning it; for, by their backwardness to believe it, it appears
|
|
that they were not credulous concerning it, nor of those simple ones
|
|
that believe every word. If they had had any design to advance their
|
|
own interest by it, they would greedily have caught at the first spark
|
|
of its evidence, would have raised and supported one another's
|
|
expectations of it, and have prepared the minds of those that followed
|
|
them to receive the notices of it; but we find, on the contrary, that
|
|
their hopes were frustrated, it was to them as a strange thing, and one
|
|
of the furthest things from their thoughts. Peter and John were so shy
|
|
of believing it at first that nothing less than the most convincing
|
|
proof the thing was capable of could bring them to testify it
|
|
afterwards with so much assurance. Hereby it appears that they were not
|
|
only honest men, who would not deceive others, but cautious men, who
|
|
would not themselves be imposed upon. <I>Secondly,</I> What was the
|
|
reason of their slowness to believe; because as yet they <I>knew not
|
|
the scripture.</I> This seems to be the evangelist's acknowledgment of
|
|
his own fault among the rest; he does not say, "For as yet Jesus had
|
|
not appeared to them, had not shown them his hands and his side," but,
|
|
"As yet he had not <I>opened their understandings to understand the
|
|
scripture</I>"
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+24:44,45">Luke xxiv. 44, 45</A>),
|
|
|
|
for that is the <I>most sure word of prophecy.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. Peter and John pursued their enquiry no further, but desisted,
|
|
hovering between faith and unbelief
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The disciples went away,</I> not much the wiser, <I>to their own
|
|
home,</I> <B><I>pros heautous</I></B>--<I>to their own friends and
|
|
companions,</I> the rest of the disciples to their own lodgings, for
|
|
homes they had none at Jerusalem. They went away,
|
|
|
|
(1.) For fear of being taken up upon suspicion of a design to steal
|
|
away the body, or of being charged with it now that it was gone Instead
|
|
of improving their faith, their care is to secure themselves, to shift
|
|
for their own safety. In difficult dangerous times it is hard even for
|
|
good men to go on in their work with the resolution that becomes them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Because they were at a loss, and knew not what to do next, nor
|
|
what to make of what they had seen; and therefore, not having courage
|
|
to stay at the grave, they resolve to go home, and wait till God shall
|
|
<I>reveal even this unto them,</I> which is an instance of their
|
|
weakness as yet.
|
|
|
|
(3.) It is probable that the rest of the disciples were together; to
|
|
them they return, to make report of what they had discovered and to
|
|
consult with them what was to be done; and, probably, now they
|
|
appointed their meeting in the evening, when Christ came to them. It is
|
|
observable that before Peter and John came to the sepulchre an angel
|
|
had appeared there, rolled away the stone, frightened the guard, and
|
|
comforted the women; as soon as they were gone from the sepulchre, Mary
|
|
Magdalene here sees two angels in the sepulchre
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet Peter and John come to the sepulchre, and go into it, and see
|
|
none. What shall we make of this? Where were the angels when Peter and
|
|
John were at the sepulchre, who appeared there before and after?
|
|
|
|
[1.] Angels appear and disappear at pleasure, according to the orders
|
|
and instructions given them. They may be, and are really, where they
|
|
are not visibly; nay, it should seem, may be visible to one and not to
|
|
another, at the same time,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+22:23,2Ki+6:17">Num. xxii. 23; 2 Kings vi. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
How they make themselves visible, then invisible, and then visible
|
|
again, it is presumption for us to enquire; but that they do so is
|
|
plain from this story.
|
|
|
|
[2.] This favour was shown to those who were early and constant in
|
|
their enquiries after Christ, and was the reward of those that came
|
|
first and staid last, but denied to those that made a transient visit.
|
|
|
|
[3.] The apostles were not to receive their instructions from the
|
|
angels, but from the Spirit of grace. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+2:5">Heb. ii. 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_18"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Resurrection.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she
|
|
wept, she stooped down, <I>and looked</I> into the sepulchre,
|
|
12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head,
|
|
and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
|
|
13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith
|
|
unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not
|
|
where they have laid him.
|
|
14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw
|
|
Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
|
|
15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest
|
|
thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir,
|
|
if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him,
|
|
and I will take him away.
|
|
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith
|
|
unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
|
|
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet
|
|
ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them,
|
|
I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and <I>to</I> my God, and
|
|
your God.
|
|
18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen
|
|
the Lord, and <I>that</I> he had spoken these things unto her.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
St. Mark tells us that Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+16:9">Mark xvi. 9</A>);
|
|
|
|
that appearance is here largely related; and we may observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The constancy and fervency of Mary Magdalene's affection to the Lord
|
|
Jesus,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. She staid at the sepulchre, when Peter and John were gone, because
|
|
there her Master had lain, and there she was likeliest to hear some
|
|
tidings of him. Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Where there is a true love to Christ there will be a constant
|
|
adherence to him, and a resolution with purpose of heart to cleave to
|
|
him. This good woman, though she has lost him, yet, rather than seem to
|
|
desert him, will abide by his grave for his sake, and continue in his
|
|
love even when she wants the comfort of it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Where there is a true desire of acquaintance with Christ there
|
|
will be a constant attendance on the means of knowledge. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+6:2,3">Hos. vi. 2, 3</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>The third day he will raise us up;</I> and then shall we know the
|
|
meaning of that resurrection, if we follow on to know, as Mary
|
|
here.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. She staid there weeping, and these tears loudly bespoke her
|
|
affection to her Master. Those that have lost Christ have cause to
|
|
weep; she wept at the remembrance of his bitter sufferings; wept for
|
|
his death, and the loss which she and her friends and the country
|
|
sustained by it; wept to think of returning home without him; wept
|
|
because she did not now find his body. Those that seek Christ must
|
|
<I>seek him sorrowing</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+2:48">Luke ii. 48</A>),
|
|
|
|
must weep, not for him, but for themselves.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. <I>As she wept, she looked into the sepulchre,</I> that her eye
|
|
might affect her heart. When we are in search of something that we have
|
|
lost we look again and again in the place where we last left it, and
|
|
expected to have found it. She will look <I>yet seven times,</I> not
|
|
knowing but that at length she may see some encouragement. Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Weeping must not hinder seeking. Though she wept, she <I>stooped
|
|
down and looked in.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Those are likely to seek and find that seek with affection, that
|
|
seek in tears.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The vision she had of two angels in the sepulchre,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The description of the persons she saw. They were <I>two angels in
|
|
white, sitting</I> (probably on some benches or ledges hewn out in the
|
|
rock) one at <I>the head,</I> and the other at the <I>feet,</I> of the
|
|
grave. Here we have,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Their nature. They were angels, messengers from heaven, sent on
|
|
purpose, on this great occasion,
|
|
|
|
[1.] To honour the Son and to grace the solemnity of his resurrection.
|
|
Now that the Son of God was again to be brought into the world, the
|
|
angels have a charge to attend him, as they did at his birth,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+1:6">Heb. i. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] To comfort the saints; to speak good words to those that were in
|
|
sorrow, and, by giving them notice that the Lord was risen, to prepare
|
|
them for the sight of him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Their number: <I>two,</I> not a <I>multitude of the heavenly
|
|
host,</I> to sing praise, only two, to bear witness; for out of the
|
|
mouth of two witnesses this word would be established.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) Their array: They were <I>in white,</I> denoting,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Their purity and holiness. The best of men <I>standing before the
|
|
angels,</I> and compared with them, <I>are clothed in filthy
|
|
garments</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+3:3">Zech. iii. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
but angels are spotless; and glorified saints, when they come to be as
|
|
the angels, shall <I>walk with Christ in white.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] Their glory, and glorying, upon this occasion. The white in which
|
|
they appeared represented the brightness of that state into which
|
|
Christ was now risen.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) Their posture and place: They sat, as it were, reposing themselves
|
|
in Christ's grave; for angels, though they needed not a restoration,
|
|
were obliged to Christ for their establishment. These angels went into
|
|
the grave, to teach us not to be afraid of it, nor to think that our
|
|
resting in it awhile will be any prejudice to our immortality; no,
|
|
matters are so ordered that the grave is not much out of our way to
|
|
heaven. It intimates likewise that angels are to be employed about the
|
|
saints, not only at their death, to carry their souls into Abraham's
|
|
bosom, but at the great day, <I>to raise their bodies,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:31">Matt. xxiv. 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
These angelic guards (and angels are called <I>watchers</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:23">Dan. iv. 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
keeping possession of the sepulchre, when they had frightened away the
|
|
guards which the enemies had set, represents Christ's victory over the
|
|
powers of darkness, routing and defeating them. Thus Michael and his
|
|
angels are more than conquerors. Their sitting to face one another, one
|
|
at his bed's head, the other at his bed's feet, denotes their care of
|
|
the entire body of Christ, his mystical as well as his natural body,
|
|
from head to foot; it may also remind us of the two cherubim, placed
|
|
one at either end of the mercy-seat, looking one at another,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+25:18">Exod. xxv. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ crucified was the great propitiatory, at the head and feet of
|
|
which were these two cherubim, not with flaming swords, to keep us
|
|
from, but welcome messengers, to direct us to, the way of life.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Their compassionate enquiry into the cause of Mary Magdalene's grief
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Woman, why weepest thou?</I> This question was,
|
|
|
|
(1.) A rebuke to her weeping: "<I>Why weepest thou,</I> when thou has
|
|
cause to rejoice?" Many of the floods of our tears would <I>dry
|
|
away</I> before such a search as this into the fountain of them. <I>Why
|
|
are thou cast down?</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) It was designed to show how much angels are concerned at the
|
|
griefs of the saints, having a charge to minister to them for their
|
|
comfort. Christians should thus sympathize with one another.
|
|
|
|
(3.) It was only to make an occasion of informing her of that which
|
|
would turn her mourning into rejoicing, would <I>put off her sackcloth,
|
|
and gird her with gladness.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The melancholy account she gives them of her present distress:
|
|
<I>Because they have taken away</I> the blessed body I came to embalm,
|
|
<I>and I know not where they have laid it.</I> The same story she had
|
|
told,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
In it we may see,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The weakness of her faith. If she had had faith <I>as a grain of
|
|
mustard-seed,</I> this mountain would have been removed; but we often
|
|
perplex ourselves needlessly with imaginary difficulties, which faith
|
|
would discover to us as real advantages. Many good people complain of
|
|
the clouds and darkness they are under, which are the necessary methods
|
|
of grace for the humbling of their souls, the mortifying of their sins,
|
|
and the endearing of Christ to them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The strength of her love. Those that have a true affection for
|
|
Christ cannot but be in great affliction when they have lost either the
|
|
comfortable tokens of his love in their souls or the comfortable
|
|
opportunities of conversing with him, and doing him honour, in his
|
|
ordinances. Mary Magdalene is not diverted from her enquiries by the
|
|
surprise of the vision, nor satisfied with the honour of it; but still
|
|
she harps upon the same string: <I>They have taken away my Lord.</I> A
|
|
sight of angels and their smiles will not suffice without a sight of
|
|
Christ and God's smiles in him. Nay, the sight of angels is but an
|
|
opportunity of pursuing her enquiries after Christ. All creatures, the
|
|
most excellent, the most dear, should be used as means, and but as
|
|
means, to bring us into acquaintance with God in Christ. The angels
|
|
asked her, <I>Why weepest thou?</I> I have cause enough to weep, says
|
|
she, for <I>they have taken away my Lord,</I> and, like Micah, <I>What
|
|
have I more?</I> Do you ask, Why I weep? <I>My beloved has withdrawn
|
|
himself, and is gone.</I> Note, None know, but those who have
|
|
experienced it, the sorrow of a deserted soul, that has had comfortable
|
|
evidences of the love of God in Christ, and hopes of heaven, but has
|
|
now lost them, and walks in darkness; such a <I>wounded spirit who can
|
|
bear?</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Christ's appearing to her while she was talking with the angels,
|
|
and telling them her case. Before they had given her any answer, Christ
|
|
himself steps in, to satisfy her enquiries, for God now speaketh to us
|
|
by his Son; none but he himself can direct us to himself. Mary would
|
|
fain know where her Lord is, and behold he is at her right hand. Note,
|
|
|
|
1. Those that will be content with nothing short of a sight of Christ
|
|
shall be put off with nothing less. He never said to the soul that
|
|
sought him, <I>Seek in vain.</I> "Is it Christ that thou wouldest have?
|
|
Christ thou shalt have."
|
|
|
|
2. Christ, in manifesting himself to those that seek him, often outdoes
|
|
their expectations. Mary longs to see the dead body of Christ, and
|
|
complains of the loss of that, and behold she sees him alive. Thus he
|
|
does for his praying people more than they are able to ask or think. In
|
|
this appearance of Christ to Mary observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) How he did at first conceal himself from her.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] He stood as a common person, and she looked upon him accordingly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
She stood expecting an answer to her complaint from the angels; and
|
|
either seeing the shadow, or hearing the tread, of some person behind
|
|
her, she <I>turned herself back</I> from talking with the angels, and
|
|
<I>sees Jesus himself</I> standing, the very person she was looking
|
|
for, and yet she <I>knew not that it was Jesus.</I> Note, <I>First, The
|
|
Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+34:18">Ps. xxxiv. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
nearer than they are aware. Those that seek Christ, though they do not
|
|
see him, may yet be sure he is not far from them. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
Those that diligently seek the Lord will turn every way in their
|
|
enquiry after him. <I>Mary turned herself back,</I> in hopes of some
|
|
discoveries. Several of the ancients suggest that Mary was directed to
|
|
look behind her by the angels' rising up, and doing their obeisance to
|
|
the Lord Jesus, whom they saw before Mary did; and that she looked back
|
|
to see to whom it was they paid such a profound reverence. But, if so,
|
|
it is not likely that she would have taken him for the gardener;
|
|
rather, therefore, it was her earnest desire in seeking that made her
|
|
turn every way. <I>Thirdly,</I> Christ is often near his people, and
|
|
they are not aware of him. She <I>knew not that it was Jesus;</I> not
|
|
that he appeared in any other likeness, but either it was a careless
|
|
transient look she cast upon him, and, her eyes being full of care, she
|
|
could not so well distinguish, or <I>they were holden, that she should
|
|
not know him,</I> as those of the two disciples,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+24:16">Luke xxiv. 16</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] He asked her a common question, and she answered him accordingly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> The question he asked her was natural enough, and what
|
|
any one would have asked her: "<I>Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest
|
|
thou?</I> What business hast thou here in the garden so early? And what
|
|
is all this noise and ado for?" Perhaps it was spoken with some
|
|
roughness, as Joseph spoke to his brethren when he made himself
|
|
strange, before he made himself known to them. It should seem, this was
|
|
the first word Christ spoke after his resurrection: "<I>Why weepest
|
|
thou?</I> I am risen." The resurrection of Christ has enough in it to
|
|
ally all our sorrows, to check the streams, and dry up the fountains,
|
|
of our tears. Observe here, Christ takes cognizance,
|
|
|
|
1. Of his people's griefs, and enquires, <I>Why weep you?</I> He
|
|
bottles their tears, and records them in his book.
|
|
|
|
2. Of his people's cares and enquires, <I>Whom seek you, and what would
|
|
you have?</I> When he knows they are seeking him, yet he will know it
|
|
from them; they must tell him whom they seek.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> The reply she made him is natural enough; she does not
|
|
give him a direct answer, but, as if she should say, "Why do you banter
|
|
me, and upbraid me with my tears? You know why I weep, and whom I
|
|
seek;" and therefore, <I>supposing him to be the gardener,</I> the
|
|
person employed by Joseph to dress and keep his garden, who, she
|
|
thought, was come thither thus early to his work, she said, <I>Sir, if
|
|
thou hast carried him hence,</I> pray <I>tell me where thou hast laid
|
|
him, and I will take him away.</I> See here,
|
|
|
|
1. The error of her understanding. She supposed our Lord Jesus to be
|
|
the gardener, perhaps because he asked what authority she had to be
|
|
there. Note, Troubled spirits, in a cloudy and dark day, are apt to
|
|
misrepresent Christ to themselves, and to put wrong constructions upon
|
|
the methods of his providence and grace.
|
|
|
|
2. The truth of her affection. See how her heart was set upon finding
|
|
Christ. She puts the question to every one she meets, like the careful
|
|
spouse, <I>Saw you him whom my soul loveth?</I> She speaks respectfully
|
|
to a gardener, and calls him <I>Sir,</I> in hopes to gain some
|
|
intelligence from him concerning her beloved. When she speaks of
|
|
Christ, she does not name him; but, <I>If thou have borne him
|
|
hence,</I> taking it for granted that this gardener was full of
|
|
thoughts concerning this Jesus as well as she, and therefore could not
|
|
but know whom she meant. Another evidence of the strength of her
|
|
affection was that, wherever he was laid, she would undertake to remove
|
|
him. Such a body, with such a weight of spices about it, was much more
|
|
than she could pretend to carry; but true love thinks it can do more
|
|
than it can, and makes nothing of difficulties. She supposed this
|
|
gardener grudged that the body of one that was ignominiously crucified
|
|
should have the honour to be laid in his master's new tomb, and that
|
|
therefore he had removed it to some sorry place, which he thought
|
|
fitter for it. Yet Mary does not threaten to tell his master, and get
|
|
him turned out of his place for it; but undertakes to find out some
|
|
other sepulchre, to which he might be welcome. Christ needs not to stay
|
|
where he is thought a burden.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) How Christ at length made himself known to her, and, by a pleasing
|
|
surprise, gave her infallible assurances of his resurrection. Joseph at
|
|
length said to his brethren, <I>I am Joseph.</I> So Christ here to Mary
|
|
Magdalene, now that he is entered upon his exalted state. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] How Christ discovered himself to this good woman that was seeking
|
|
him in tears
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Jesus saith unto her, Mary.</I> It was said with an emphasis, and
|
|
the air of kindness and freedom with which he was wont to speak to her.
|
|
Now he changed his voice, and spoke like himself, not like the
|
|
gardener. Christ's way of making himself known to his people is by his
|
|
word, his word applied to their souls, speaking to them in particular.
|
|
When those whom God <I>knew by name</I> in the counsels of his love
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+33:12">Exod. xxxiii. 12</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>are called by name</I> in the efficacy of his grace, then <I>he
|
|
reveals his Son in them</I> as in Paul
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:16">Gal. i. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
when Christ called to him by name, <I>Saul, Saul.</I> Christ's <I>sheep
|
|
know his voice,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:4"><I>ch.</I> x. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
This one word, <I>Mary,</I> was like that to the disciples in the
|
|
storm, <I>It is I.</I> Then the word of Christ does us good when we put
|
|
our names into the precepts and promises. "In this Christ calls to me,
|
|
and speaks to me."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] How readily she received this discovery. When Christ said, "Mary,
|
|
dost thou not know me? are you and I grown such strangers?" she was
|
|
presently aware who it was, as the spouse
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+2:8">Cant. ii. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>It is the voice of my beloved.</I> She turned herself, and said,
|
|
<I>Rabboni, My Master.</I> It might properly be read with an
|
|
interrogation, "<I>Rabboni? Is it my master?</I> Nay, but is it
|
|
indeed?" Observe, <I>First,</I> The title of respect she gives Him:
|
|
<I>My Master;</I> <B><I>didaskale</I></B>--<I>a teaching master.</I>
|
|
The Jews called their doctors <I>Rabbies,</I> great men. Their critics
|
|
tell us that <I>Rabbon</I> was with them a more honourable title than
|
|
<I>Rabbi;</I> and therefore Mary chooses that, and adds a note of
|
|
appropriation, <I>My great Master.</I> Note, Notwithstanding the
|
|
freedom of communion which Christ is pleased to admit us to with
|
|
himself, we must remember that he is our <I>Master,</I> and to be
|
|
approached with a <I>godly fear. Secondly,</I> With what liveliness of
|
|
affection she gives this title to Christ. <I>She turned</I> from the
|
|
angels, whom she had in her eye, to look unto Jesus. We must take off
|
|
our regards from all creatures, even the brightest and best, to fix
|
|
them upon Christ, from whom nothing must divert us, and with whom
|
|
nothing must interfere. When <I>she thought it had been the
|
|
gardener,</I> she looked another way while speaking to him; but now
|
|
that she knew the voice of Christ <I>she turned herself.</I> The soul
|
|
that hears Christ's voice, and is turned to him, calls him, with joy
|
|
and triumph, <I>My Master.</I> See with what pleasure those who love
|
|
Christ speak of his authority over them. <I>My Master, my great
|
|
Master.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] The further instructions that Christ gave her
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Touch me not,</I> but go and carry the news to the disciples."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> He diverts her from the expectation of familiar society
|
|
and conversation with him at this time: <I>Touch me not, for I am not
|
|
yet ascended.</I> Mary was so transported with the sight of her dear
|
|
Master that she forgot herself, and that state of glory into which he
|
|
was now entering, and was ready to express her joy by affectionate
|
|
embraces of him, which Christ here forbids at this time.
|
|
|
|
1. <I>Touch me not</I> thus at all, for I am to ascend to heaven. He
|
|
bade the disciples touch him, for the confirmation of their faith; he
|
|
allowed the women to take hold of his feet, and worship him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+28:9">Matt. xxviii. 9</A>);
|
|
|
|
but Mary, supposing that he was risen, as Lazarus was, to live among
|
|
them constantly, and converse with them freely as he had done, upon
|
|
that presumption was about to take hold of his hand with her usual
|
|
freedom. This mistake Christ rectified; she must believe him, and
|
|
adore him, as exalted, but must not expect to be familiar with him as
|
|
formerly. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:16">2 Cor. v. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
He forbids her to dote upon his bodily presence, to set her heart on
|
|
this, or expect its continuance, and leads her to the spiritual
|
|
converse and communion which she should have with him after he was
|
|
ascended to his Father; for the greatest joy of his resurrection was
|
|
that it was a step towards his ascension. Mary thought, now that her
|
|
Master was risen, he would presently set up a temporal kingdom, such as
|
|
they had long promised themselves. "No," says Christ, "touch me not,
|
|
with any such thought; think not to lay hold on me, so as to detain me
|
|
here; for, though <I>I am not yet ascended, go to my brethren, and tell
|
|
them, I am to ascend.</I>" As before his death, so now after his
|
|
resurrection, he still harps upon this, that he was going away, was
|
|
<I>no more in the world;</I> and therefore they must look higher than
|
|
his bodily presence, and look further than the present state of things.
|
|
|
|
2. "<I>Touch me not,</I> do not stay to touch me now, stay not now to
|
|
make any further enquiries, or give any further expressions of joy, for
|
|
<I>I am not yet ascended,</I> I shall not depart immediately, it may as
|
|
well be done another time; the best service thou canst do now is to
|
|
carry the tidings to the disciples; lose no time therefore, but go away
|
|
with all speed." Note, Public service ought to be preferred before
|
|
private satisfaction. <I>It is more blessed to give than to
|
|
receive.</I> Jacob must let an angel go, when the day breaks, and it is
|
|
time for him to look after his family. Mary must not stay to talk with
|
|
her Master, but must carry his message; for it is a day of good
|
|
tidings, which she must not engross the comfort of, but hand it to
|
|
others. See that story,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+7:9">2 Kings vii. 9</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> He directs her what message to carry to his disciples:
|
|
<I>But go to my brethren, and tell them,</I> not only that I am risen
|
|
(she could have told them that of herself, for she had seen him), but
|
|
that <I>I ascend.</I> Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>a.</I> To whom this message is sent: <I>Go to my brethren</I> with
|
|
it; for he is not ashamed to call them so.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He was now entering upon his glory, and was <I>declared to be the
|
|
Son of God with</I> greater <I>power</I> than ever, yet he owns his
|
|
disciples as his brethren, and expresses himself with more tender
|
|
affection to them than before; he had called them friends, but never
|
|
brethren till now. Though Christ be high, yet he is not haughty.
|
|
Notwithstanding his elevation, he disdains not to own his poor
|
|
relations.
|
|
|
|
(<I>b.</I>) His disciples had lately carried themselves very
|
|
disingenuously towards him; he had never seen them together since
|
|
<I>they all forsook him and fled,</I> when he was apprehended; justly
|
|
might he now have sent them an angry message: "Go to yonder treacherous
|
|
deserters, and tell them, I will never trust them any more, or have any
|
|
thing more to do with them." No, he forgives, he forgets, and does not
|
|
upbraid.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>b.</I> By whom it is sent: by <I>Mary Magdalene, out of whom had
|
|
been cast seven devils,</I> yet now thus favoured. This was her reward
|
|
for her constancy in adhering to Christ, and enquiring after him; and a
|
|
tacit rebuke to the apostles, who had not been so close as she was in
|
|
attending on the dying Jesus, nor so early as she was in meeting the
|
|
rising Jesus; she becomes an apostle to the apostles.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>c.</I> What the message itself is: <I>I ascend to my Father.</I> Two
|
|
full breasts of consolation are here in these words:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(<I>a.</I>) Our joint-relation to God, resulting from our union with
|
|
Christ, is an unspeakable comfort. Speaking of that inexhaustible
|
|
spring of light, life, and bliss, he says, He is <I>my Father, and our
|
|
Father; my God, and your God.</I> This is very expressive of the near
|
|
relation that subsists between Christ and believers: <I>he that
|
|
sanctifieth, and those that are sanctified, are both one; for they
|
|
agree in one,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+2:11">Heb. ii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here we have such an advancement of Christians, and such a
|
|
condescension of Christ, as bring them very near together, so admirably
|
|
well is the matter contrived, in order to their union.
|
|
|
|
[<I>a.</I>] It is the great dignity of believers that <I>the Father of
|
|
our Lord Jesus Christ</I> is, in him, <I>their Father.</I> A vast
|
|
difference indeed there is between the respective foundations of the
|
|
relation; he is Christ's Father by eternal generation, ours by a
|
|
gracious adoption; yet even this warrants us to call him, as Christ
|
|
did, <I>Abba, Father.</I> This gives a reason why Christ called them
|
|
brethren, because his Father was their Father. Christ was now ascending
|
|
to appear as an <I>advocate with the Father</I>--with <I>his
|
|
Father,</I> and therefore we may hope he will prevail for any
|
|
thing--with <I>our Father,</I> and therefore we may hope he will
|
|
prevail for us.
|
|
|
|
[<I>b.</I>] It is the great condescension of Christ that he is pleased
|
|
to own the believer's God for his God: <I>My God, and your God;</I>
|
|
mine, that he may be yours; the God of the Redeemer, to support him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:26">Ps. lxxxix. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
that he might be the God of the redeemed, to save them. The summary of
|
|
the new covenant is that God <I>will be to us a God;</I> and therefore
|
|
Christ being the surety and head of the covenant, who is primarily
|
|
dealt with, and believers only through him as his spiritual seed, this
|
|
covenant-relation fastens first upon him, God becomes his God, and so
|
|
ours; we partaking of a divine nature, Christ's Father is our Father;
|
|
and, he partaking of the human nature, our God is his God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(<I>b.</I>) Christ's ascension into heaven, in further prosecution of
|
|
his undertaking for us, is likewise an unspeakable comfort: "Tell them
|
|
I must shortly ascend; that is the next step I am to take." Now this
|
|
was intended to be,
|
|
|
|
[<I>a.</I>] A word of caution to these disciples, not to expect the
|
|
continuance of his bodily presence on earth, nor the setting up of his
|
|
temporal kingdom among men, which they dreamed of. "No, tell them, I
|
|
am risen, not to stay with them, but to go on their errand to heaven."
|
|
Thus those who are raised to a spiritual life, in conformity to
|
|
Christ's resurrection, must reckon that they rise to ascend; <I>they
|
|
are quickened with Christ that they may sit with him in heavenly
|
|
places,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:5,6">Eph. ii. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let them not think that this earth is to be their home and rest; no,
|
|
being born from heaven, they are bound for heaven; their eye and aim
|
|
must be upon another world, and this must be ever upon their hearts, I
|
|
ascend, therefore must I seek things above.
|
|
|
|
[<I>b.</I>] A word of comfort to them, and to all <I>that shall believe
|
|
in him through their word;</I> he was then ascending, he is now
|
|
<I>ascended to his Father, and our Father.</I> This was his
|
|
advancement; he ascended to receive those honours and powers which were
|
|
to be the recompence of his humiliation; he says it with triumph, that
|
|
those who love him may rejoice. This is our advantage; for he ascended
|
|
as a conqueror, <I>leading captivity captive</I> for us
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+68:18">Ps. lxviii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
he ascended as our forerunner, <I>to prepare a place for us,</I> and to
|
|
be ready to receive us. This message was like that which Joseph's
|
|
brethren brought to Jacob concerning him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+45:26">Gen. xlv. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Joseph is yet alive,</I> and not only so, <I>vivit imo, et in
|
|
senatum venit--he lives, and comes into the senate too; he is governor
|
|
over all the land of Egypt;</I> all power is his.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Some make those words, <I>I ascend to my God and your God,</I> to
|
|
include a promise of our resurrection, in the virtue of Christ's
|
|
resurrection; for Christ had proved the resurrection of the dead from
|
|
these words, <I>I am the God of Abraham,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:32">Matt. xxii. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
So that Christ here insinuates, "As he is my God, and hath therefore
|
|
raised me, so he is your God, and will therefore raise you, and be your
|
|
God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:3">Rev. xxi. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Because I live, you shall live also.</I> I now ascend, to honour my
|
|
God, and you shall ascend to him as your God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. Here is Mary Magdalene's faithful report of what she had seen and
|
|
heard to the disciples
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>She came and told the disciples,</I> whom she found together,
|
|
<I>that she had seen the Lord.</I> Peter and John had left her seeking
|
|
him carefully with tears, and would not stay to seek him with her; and
|
|
now she comes to tell them that she had found him, and to rectify the
|
|
mistake she had led them into by enquiring after the dead body, for now
|
|
she found it was a living body and a glorified one; so that she found
|
|
what she sought, and, what was infinitely better, she had joy in her
|
|
sight of the Master herself, and was willing to communicate of her joy,
|
|
for she knew it would be good news to them. When God comforts us, it is
|
|
with this design, that we may comfort others. And as she told them what
|
|
she had seen, so also what she had heard; she had seen the Lord alive,
|
|
of which this was a token (and a good token it was) <I>that he had
|
|
spoken these things unto her</I> as a message to be delivered to them,
|
|
and she delivered it faithfully. Those that are acquainted with the
|
|
word of Christ themselves should communicate their knowledge for the
|
|
good of others, and not grudge that others should know as much as they
|
|
do.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Christ with His Disciples.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>19 Then the same day at evening, being the first <I>day</I> of the
|
|
week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled
|
|
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and
|
|
saith unto them, Peace <I>be</I> unto you.
|
|
20 And when he had so said, he showed unto them <I>his</I> hands and
|
|
his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
|
|
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace <I>be</I> unto you: as <I>my</I>
|
|
Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
|
|
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on <I>them,</I> and saith
|
|
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
|
|
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;
|
|
<I>and</I> whose soever <I>sins</I> ye retain, they are retained.
|
|
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with
|
|
them when Jesus came.
|
|
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen
|
|
the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands
|
|
the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the
|
|
nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The infallible proof of Christ's resurrection was his <I>showing
|
|
himself alive,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+1:3">Acts i. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
In these verses, we have an account of his first appearance to the
|
|
college of the disciples, on the day on which he rose. He had sent them
|
|
the tidings of his resurrection by trusty and credible messengers; but
|
|
to show his love to them, and confirm their faith in him, he came
|
|
himself, and gave them all the assurances they could desire of the
|
|
truth of it, that they might not have it by hearsay only, and at second
|
|
hand, but might themselves be eye-witnesses of his being alive, because
|
|
they must attest it to the world, and build the church upon that
|
|
testimony. Now observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. When and where this appearance was,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was <I>the same day</I> that he rose, <I>being the first day of the
|
|
week,</I> the day after the Jewish sabbath, at a private meeting of the
|
|
disciples, ten of them, and some more of their friends with them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+24:33">Luke xxiv. 33</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
There are three secondary ordinances (as I may call them) instituted by
|
|
our Lord Jesus, to continue in his church, for the support of it, and
|
|
for the due administration of the principal ordinances--the word,
|
|
sacraments, and prayer; these are, the Lord's day, solemn assemblies,
|
|
and standing ministry. The mind of Christ concerning each of these is
|
|
plainly intimated to us in these verses; of the first two, here, in the
|
|
circumstances of this appearance, the other
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ's kingdom was to be set up among men, immediately upon his
|
|
resurrection; and accordingly we find the very day he arose, though but
|
|
a day of small things, yet graced with those solemnities which should
|
|
help to keep up a face of religion throughout all the ages of the
|
|
church.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Here is a Christian sabbath observed by the disciples, and owned by
|
|
our Lord Jesus. The visit Christ made to his disciples was on <I>the
|
|
first day of the week.</I> And the first day of the week is (I think)
|
|
the only day of the week, or month, or year, that is ever mentioned by
|
|
number in all the New Testament; and this is several times spoken of as
|
|
a day religiously observed. Though it was said here expressly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
|
|
|
|
that Christ arose on <I>the first day of the week,</I> and it might
|
|
have been sufficient to say here
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
he appeared the same day at evening; yet, to put an honour upon the
|
|
day, it is repeated, <I>being the first day of the week;</I> not that
|
|
the apostles designed to put honour upon the day (they were yet in
|
|
doubt concerning the occasion of it), but God designed to put honour
|
|
upon it, by ordering it that they should be altogether, to receive
|
|
Christ's first visit on that day. Thus, in effect, he blessed and
|
|
sanctified that day, because in it the Redeemer rested.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Here is a Christian assembly solemnized by the disciples, and also
|
|
owned by the Lord Jesus. Probably the disciples met here for some
|
|
religious exercise, to pray together; or, perhaps, they met to compare
|
|
notes, and consider whether they had sufficient evidence of their
|
|
Master's resurrection, and to consult what was now to be done, whether
|
|
they should keep together or scatter; they met to know one another's
|
|
minds, strengthen one another's hands, and concert proper measures to
|
|
be taken in the present critical juncture. This meeting was private,
|
|
because they durst not appear publicly, especially in a body. They met
|
|
in a house, but they kept the door shut, that they might not be seen
|
|
together, and that no one might come among them but such as they knew;
|
|
for they feared the Jews, who would prosecute the disciples as
|
|
criminals, that they might seem to believe the lie they would deceive
|
|
the world with, that his <I>disciples came by night, and stole him
|
|
away.</I> Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The disciples of Christ, even in difficult times, must not
|
|
<I>forsake the assembling of themselves together,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+10:25">Heb. x. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those <I>sheep of the flock were scattered</I> in the storm; but sheep
|
|
are sociable, and will come together again. It is no new thing for the
|
|
assemblies of Christ's disciples to be driven into corners, and forced
|
|
into the wilderness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+12:14,Pr+28:12">Rev. xii. 14; Prov. xxviii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) God's people have been often obliged to <I>enter into their
|
|
chambers, and shut their doors,</I> as here, <I>for fear of the
|
|
Jews.</I> Persecution is allotted them, and retirement from persecution
|
|
is allowed them; and then where shall we look for them but in <I>dens
|
|
and caves of the earth.</I> It is a real grief, but no real reproach,
|
|
to Christ's disciples, thus to abscond.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. What was said and done in this visit Christ made to his disciples,
|
|
and his interview between them. When they were assembled, Jesus came
|
|
among them, in his own likeness, yet drawing a veil over the brightness
|
|
of his body, now begun to be glorified, else it would have dazzled
|
|
their eyes, as in his transfiguration. Christ came among them, to give
|
|
them a specimen of the performance of his promise, that, <I>where two
|
|
or three are gathered together in his name, he will be in the midst of
|
|
them.</I> He came, though <I>the doors were shut.</I> This does not at
|
|
all weaken the evidence of his having a real human body after his
|
|
resurrection; though the doors were shut, he knew how to open them
|
|
without any noise, and come in so that they might not hear him, as
|
|
formerly he had walked on the water, and yet had a true body. It is a
|
|
comfort to Christ's disciples, when their solemn assemblies are reduced
|
|
to privacy, that no doors can shut out Christ's presence from them. We
|
|
have five things in this appearance of Christ:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) His kind and familiar salutation of his disciples: <I>He said,
|
|
Peace be unto you.</I> This was not a word of course, though commonly
|
|
used so at the meeting of friends, but a solemn, uncommon benediction,
|
|
conferring upon them all the blessed fruits and effects of his death
|
|
and resurrection. The phrase was common, but the sense was now
|
|
peculiar. <I>Peace be unto you</I> is as much as, All good be to you,
|
|
all peace always by all means. Christ had left them his peace for their
|
|
legacy,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+14:27"><I>ch.</I> xiv. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
By the death of the testator the testament was become of force, and he
|
|
was now risen from the dead, to prove the will, and to be himself the
|
|
executor of it. Accordingly, he here makes prompt payment of the
|
|
legacy: <I>Peace be unto you.</I> His speaking peace makes peace,
|
|
<I>creates the fruit of the lips, peace;</I> peace with God, peace in
|
|
your own consciences, peace with one another; all this peace be with
|
|
you; not peace with the world, but peace in Christ. His sudden
|
|
appearing in <I>the midst of them</I> when they were full of doubts
|
|
concerning him, full of fears concerning themselves, could not but put
|
|
them into some disorder and consternation, the noise of which waves he
|
|
stills with this word, <I>Peace be unto you.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) His clear and undeniable manifestation of himself to them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
And here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The method he took to convince them of the truth of his
|
|
resurrection, They now saw him alive whom multitudes had seen dead two
|
|
or three days before. Now the only doubt was whether this that they saw
|
|
alive was the same individual body that had been seen dead; and none
|
|
could desire a further proof that it was so than the scars or marks of
|
|
the wounds in the body. Now, <I>First,</I> The marks of the wounds, and
|
|
very deep marks (though without any pain or soreness), remained in the
|
|
body of the Lord Jesus even after his resurrection, that they might be
|
|
demonstrations of the truth of it. Conquerors glory in the marks of
|
|
their wounds. Christ's wounds were to speak on earth that it was he
|
|
himself, and therefore he arose with them; they were to speak in
|
|
heaven, in the intercession he must ever live to make, and therefore he
|
|
ascended with them, and appeared in the midst of <I>the throne, a Lamb
|
|
as it had been slain, and bleeding afresh,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+5:6">Rev. v. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nay, it should seem, he will come again with his scars, that <I>they
|
|
may look on him whom they pierced. Secondly,</I> These marks he showed
|
|
to his disciples, for their conviction. They had not only the
|
|
satisfaction of seeing him look with the same countenance, and hearing
|
|
him speak with the same voice they had been so long accustomed to,
|
|
<I>Sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora, ferebat--Such were his
|
|
gestures, such his eyes and hands!</I> but they had the further
|
|
evidence of these peculiar marks: he opened his hands to them, that
|
|
they might see the marks of the wounds on them; he opened his breast,
|
|
as the nurse hers to the child, to show them the wound there. Note, The
|
|
exalted Redeemer will ever show himself open-handed and open-hearted to
|
|
all his faithful friends and followers. When Christ manifests his love
|
|
to believers by the comforts of his Spirit, assures them that
|
|
<I>because he lives they shall live also,</I> then <I>he shows them his
|
|
hands and his side.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] The impression it made upon them, and the good it did them.
|
|
<I>First,</I> They were convinced that they saw the Lord: so was their
|
|
faith confirmed. At first, they thought they saw an apparition only, a
|
|
phantasm; but now they knew it was the Lord himself. Thus many true
|
|
believers, who, while they were weak, feared their comforts were but
|
|
imaginary, afterwards find them, through grace, real and substantial.
|
|
They ask not, Is it the Lord? but are assured, it is he. <I>Secondly,
|
|
Then they were glad;</I> that which strengthened their faith raised
|
|
their joy; <I>believing they rejoice.</I> The evangelist seems to write
|
|
it with somewhat of transport and triumph. <I>Then! then! were the
|
|
disciples glad, when they saw the Lord,</I> If it <I>revived the spirit
|
|
of Jacob</I> to hear that <I>Joseph was yet alive,</I> how would it
|
|
revive the heart of these disciples to hear that Jesus is again alive?
|
|
It is life from the dead to them. Now that word of Christ was fulfilled
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+16:22"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.</I> This wiped
|
|
away all tears from their eyes. Note, A sight of Christ will gladden
|
|
the heart of a disciple at any time; the more we see of Christ, the
|
|
more we shall rejoice in him; and our joy will never be perfect till we
|
|
come <I>where we shall see him as he is.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) The honourable and ample commission he gave them to be his agents
|
|
in the planting of his church,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The preface to their commission, which was the solemn repetition
|
|
of the salutation before: <I>Peace be unto you.</I> This was intended,
|
|
either, <I>First,</I> To raise their attention to the commission he was
|
|
about to give them. The former salutation was to still the tumult of
|
|
their fear, that they might calmly attend to the proofs of his
|
|
resurrection; this was to reduce the transport of their joy, that they
|
|
might sedately hear what he had further to say to them; or,
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> To encourage them to accept of the commission he was
|
|
giving them. Though it would involve them in a great deal of trouble,
|
|
yet he designed their honour and comfort in it, and, in the issue, it
|
|
would be peace to them. Gideon received his commission with this word,
|
|
<I>Peace be unto thee,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+6:22,23">Judg. vi. 22, 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ is our Peace; if he is with us, peace is to us. Christ was now
|
|
sending the disciples to publish peace to the world
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+52:7">Isa. lii. 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
and he here not only confers it upon them for their own satisfaction,
|
|
but commits it to them as a trust to be by them transmitted to all the
|
|
sons of peace,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+10:5,6">Luke x. 5, 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] The commission itself, which sounds very great: <I>As my Father
|
|
hath sent me, even so send I you.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> It is easy to understand how Christ sent them; he
|
|
appointed them to go on with his work upon earth, and to lay out
|
|
themselves for the spreading of his gospel, and the setting up of his
|
|
kingdom, among men. He sent them authorized with a divine warrant,
|
|
armed with a divine power,--sent them as ambassadors to treat of peace,
|
|
and as heralds to proclaim it,--sent them as servants to bid to the
|
|
marriage. Hence they were called <I>apostles</I>--<I>men sent.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> But how Christ sent them as the Father sent him is not
|
|
so easily understood; certainly their commissions and powers were
|
|
infinitely inferior to his; but,
|
|
|
|
1. Their work was of the same kind with his, and they were to go on
|
|
where he left off. They were not sent to be priests and kings, like
|
|
him, but only prophets. As he was sent to bear witness to the truth, so
|
|
were they; not to be mediators of the reconciliation, but only
|
|
preachers and publishers of it. Was he sent, <I>not to be ministered
|
|
to, but to minister? not to do his own will, but the will of him that
|
|
sent him? not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fill them
|
|
up?</I> So were they. As the Father sent him <I>to the lost sheep of
|
|
the house of Israel,</I> so he sent them into all the world.
|
|
|
|
2. He had a power to send them equal to that which the Father had to
|
|
send him. Here the force of the comparison seems to lie. By the same
|
|
authority that the Father sent me do I send you. This proves the
|
|
Godhead of Christ; the commissions he gave were of equal authority with
|
|
those which the Father gave, and as valid and effectual to all intents
|
|
and purposes, equal with those he gave to the Old-Testament prophets in
|
|
visions. The commissions of Peter and John, by the plain word of
|
|
Christ, are as good as those of Isaiah and Ezekiel, by <I>the Lord
|
|
sitting on his throne;</I> nay, equal with that which was given to the
|
|
Mediator himself for his work. Had he an incontestable authority, and
|
|
an irresistible ability, for his work? so had they for theirs. Or
|
|
thus, <I>As the Father hath sent me</I> is, as it were, the recital of
|
|
his power; by virtue of the authority given him as a Mediator, he gave
|
|
authority to them, as his ministers, to act for him, and in his name,
|
|
with the children of men; so that those who received them, or rejected
|
|
them, received or rejected him, and him that sent him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+13:20"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 20</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) The qualifying of them for the discharge of the trust reposed in
|
|
them by their commission
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.</I>
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The sign he used to assure them of, and affect them with, the gift
|
|
he was now about to bestow upon them: <I>He breathed on them;</I> not
|
|
only to show them, by this breath of life, that he himself was really
|
|
alive, but to signify to them the spiritual life and power which they
|
|
should receive from him for all the services that lay before them.
|
|
Probably he breathed upon them all together, not upon each severally
|
|
and, though Thomas was not with them, yet the Spirit of the Lord knew
|
|
where to find him, as he did Eldad and Medad,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+11:26">Num. xi. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ here seems to refer to the creation of man at first, by the
|
|
breathing of the breath of life into him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:7">Gen. ii. 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
and to intimate that he himself was the author of that work, and that
|
|
the spiritual life and strength of ministers and Christians are derived
|
|
from him, and depend upon him, as much as the natural life of Adam and
|
|
his seed. As <I>the breath of the Almighty</I> gave life to man and
|
|
began the old world, so the breath of the mighty Saviour gave life to
|
|
his ministers, and began a new world,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:4">Job xxxiii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now this intimates to us, <I>First,</I> That the Spirit is the breath
|
|
of Christ, <I>proceeding from the Son.</I> The Spirit, in the Old
|
|
Testament, is compared to breath
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+37:9">Ezek. xxxvii. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Come, O breath;</I> but the New Testament tells us it is Christ's
|
|
breath. <I>The breath of God</I> is put for the power of his wrath
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+11:4,30:33">Isa. xi. 4; xxx. 33</A>);
|
|
|
|
but the breath of Christ signifies the power of his grace; the
|
|
breathing of threatenings is changed into the breathings of love by the
|
|
mediation of Christ. Our words are uttered by our breath, so the word
|
|
of Christ <I>is spirit and life.</I> The word comes from the Spirit,
|
|
and the Spirit comes along with the word. <I>Secondly,</I> That the
|
|
Spirit is the gift of Christ. The apostles communicated the Holy Ghost
|
|
by the laying on of hands, those hands being first lifted up in prayer,
|
|
for they could only beg this blessing, and carry it as messengers; but
|
|
Christ conferred the Holy Ghost by breathing, for he is the author of
|
|
the gift, and from him it comes originally. Moses could not give his
|
|
Spirit, God did it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+11:17">Num. xi. 17</A>);
|
|
|
|
but Christ did it himself.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] The solemn grant he made, signified by this sign, <I>Receive ye
|
|
the Holy Ghost,</I> in part now, as an earnest of what you shall
|
|
further receive <I>not many days hence.</I>" They now received more of
|
|
the Holy Ghost than they had yet received. Thus spiritual blessings
|
|
are given gradually; to him that has shall be given. Now that Jesus
|
|
began to be glorified more of the Spirit began to be given: see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+7:39"><I>ch.</I> vii. 39</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let us see what is contained in this grant. <I>First,</I> Christ hereby
|
|
gives them assurance of the Spirit's aid in their future work, in the
|
|
execution of the commission now given them: "<I>I send you,</I> and you
|
|
shall have the Spirit to go along with you." Now the <I>Spirit of the
|
|
Lord rested upon them</I> to qualify them for all the services that lay
|
|
before them. Whom Christ employs he will clothe with his Spirit, and
|
|
furnish with all needful powers. <I>Secondly,</I> He hereby gives them
|
|
experience of the Spirit's influences in their present case. He had
|
|
shown them his hands and his side, to convince them of the truth of his
|
|
resurrection; but the plainest evidences will not of themselves work
|
|
faith, witness the infidelity of the soldiers, who were the only
|
|
eye-witnesses of the resurrection. "Therefore <I>receive ye the Holy
|
|
Ghost,</I> to work faith in you, and to open your understandings." They
|
|
were now in danger of the Jews: "Therefore receive ye the Holy Ghost,
|
|
to work courage in you." What Christ said to them he says to all true
|
|
believers, <I>Receive ye the Holy Ghost,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+1:13">Eph. i. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
What Christ gives we must receive, must submit ourselves and our whole
|
|
souls to the quickening, sanctifying, influences of the blessed
|
|
Spirit-receive his motions, and comply with them--receive his powers
|
|
and make use of them: and those who thus obey this word as a precept
|
|
shall have the benefit of it as a promise; they shall receive the Holy
|
|
Ghost as the guide of their way and the earnest of their
|
|
inheritance.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(5.) One particular branch of the power given them by their commission
|
|
particularized
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Whosesoever sins you remit,</I> in the due execution of the powers
|
|
you are entrusted with, they are remitted to them, and they may take
|
|
the comfort of it; <I>and whosesoever sins you retain,</I> that is,
|
|
pronounce unpardoned and the guilt of them bound on, <I>they are
|
|
retained,</I> and the sinner may be sure of it, to his sorrow." Now
|
|
this follows upon their receiving the Holy Ghost; for, if they had not
|
|
had an extraordinary spirit of discerning, they had not been fit to be
|
|
entrusted with such an authority; for, in the strictest sense, this is
|
|
a special commission to the apostles themselves and the first preachers
|
|
of the gospel, who could distinguish who were in the <I>gall of
|
|
bitterness and bond of iniquity,</I> and who were not. By virtue of
|
|
this power, Peter struck Ananias and Sapphira dead, and Paul struck
|
|
Elymas blind. Yet it must be understood as a general charter to the
|
|
church and her ministers, not securing an infallibility of judgment to
|
|
any man or company of men in the world, but encouraging the faithful
|
|
stewards of the mysteries of God to stand to the gospel they were sent
|
|
to preach, for that God himself will stand to it. The apostles, in
|
|
preaching remission, must begin at Jerusalem, though she had lately
|
|
brought upon herself the guilt of Christ's blood: "Yet you may declare
|
|
their sins remitted upon gospel terms." And Peter did so,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+2:38,3:19">Acts ii. 38; iii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ, being risen for our justification, sends his gospel heralds to
|
|
proclaim the jubilee begun, the act of indemnity now passed; and by
|
|
this rule men shall be judged,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+12:48,Ro+2:16,Jam+2:12"><I>ch.</I> xii. 48;
|
|
Rom. ii. 16; Jam. ii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
God will never alter this rule of judgment, nor vary from it; those
|
|
whom the gospel acquits shall be acquitted, and those whom the gospel
|
|
condemns shall be condemned, which puts immense honour upon the
|
|
ministry, and should put immense courage into ministers. Two ways the
|
|
apostles and ministers of Christ remit and retain sin, and both as
|
|
having authority:--
|
|
|
|
[1.] By sound doctrine. They are commissioned to tell the world that
|
|
salvation is to be had upon gospel terms, and no other, and they shall
|
|
find God will say <I>Amen</I> to it; so shall their doom be.
|
|
|
|
[2.] By a strict discipline, applying the general rule of the gospel to
|
|
particular persons. "Whom you admit into communion with you, according
|
|
to the rules of the gospel, God will admit into communion with himself;
|
|
and whom you cast out of communion as impenitent, and obstinate in
|
|
scandalous and infectious sins, shall be bound over to the righteous
|
|
judgment of God."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The incredulity of Thomas, when the report of this was made to
|
|
him, which introduced Christ's second appearance.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Here is Thomas's absence from this meeting,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
He is said to be <I>one of the twelve,</I> one of the college of the
|
|
apostles, who, though now eleven, had been twelve, and were to be so
|
|
again. They were but eleven, and one of them was missing: Christ's
|
|
disciples will never be all together till the general assembly at the
|
|
great day. Perhaps it was Thomas's unhappiness that he was
|
|
absent--either he was not well, or had not notice; or perhaps it was
|
|
his sin and folly--either he was diverted by business or company, which
|
|
he preferred before this opportunity, or he durst not come for <I>fear
|
|
of the Jews;</I> and he called that his prudence and caution which was
|
|
his cowardice. However, by his absence he missed the satisfaction of
|
|
seeing his Master risen, and of sharing with the disciples in their joy
|
|
upon that occasion. Note, Those know not what they lose who carelessly
|
|
absent themselves from the stated solemn assemblies of Christians.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The account which the other disciples gave him of the visit their
|
|
Master had made them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
The next time they saw him they <I>said unto him,</I> with joy enough,
|
|
<I>We have seen the Lord;</I> and no doubt they related to him all that
|
|
had passed, particularly the satisfaction he had given them by showing
|
|
them his hands and his side. It seems, though Thomas was then from
|
|
them, he was not long from them; absentees for a time must not be
|
|
condemned as apostates for ever: Thomas is not Judas. Observe with what
|
|
exultation and triumph they speak it: "<I>We have seen the Lord,</I>
|
|
the most comfortable sight we ever saw." This they said to Thomas,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To upbraid him with his absence: "<I>We have seen the Lord,</I>
|
|
but thou hast not." Or rather,
|
|
|
|
(2.) To inform him: "<I>We have seen the Lord,</I> and we wish thou
|
|
hadst been here, to see him too, for thou wouldest have seen enough to
|
|
satisfy thee." Note, The disciples of Christ should endeavour to
|
|
<I>build up one another in their most holy faith,</I> both by repeating
|
|
what they have heard to those that were absent, that they may hear it
|
|
at second hand, and also by communicating what they have experienced.
|
|
Those that by faith have seen the Lord, and tasted that he is gracious,
|
|
should tell others what God has done for their souls; only let boasting
|
|
be excluded.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The objections Thomas raised against the evidence, to justify
|
|
himself in his unwillingness to admit it. "Tell me not that you have
|
|
seen the Lord alive; you are too credulous; somebody has made fools of
|
|
you. For my part, <I>except I shall</I> not only <I>see in his hands
|
|
the print of the nails,</I> but put my finger into it, <I>and thrust my
|
|
hand</I> into the wound <I>in his side,</I> I am resolved <I>I will not
|
|
believe.</I>" Some, by comparing this with what he said
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+11:16,14:5"><I>ch.</I> xi. 16; xiv. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
conjecture him to have been a man of a rough, morose temper, apt to
|
|
speak peevishly; for all good people are not alike happy in their
|
|
temper. However, there was certainly much amiss in his conduct at this
|
|
time.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He had either not heeded, or not duly regarded, what Christ had so
|
|
often said, and that too according to the Old Testament, that he would
|
|
<I>rise again the third day;</I> so that he ought to have said, <I>He
|
|
is risen,</I> though he had not seen him, nor spoken with any that had.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He did not pay a just deference to the testimony of his
|
|
fellow-disciples, who were men of wisdom and integrity, and ought to
|
|
have been credited. He knew them to be honest men; they all ten of them
|
|
concurred in the testimony with great assurance; and yet he could not
|
|
persuade himself to say that <I>their record was true.</I> Christ had
|
|
chosen them to be his witnesses of this very thing to all nations; and
|
|
yet Thomas, one of their own fraternity, would not allow them to be
|
|
competent witnesses, nor trust them further than he could see them. It
|
|
was not, however, their veracity that he questioned, but their
|
|
prudence; he feared they were too credulous.
|
|
|
|
(3.) He tempted Christ, and <I>limited the Holy One of Israel,</I> when
|
|
he would be convinced by his own method, or not at all. He could not be
|
|
sure that the print of the nails, which the apostles told him they had
|
|
seen, would admit the putting of his finger into it, or the wound in
|
|
his side the thrusting in of his hand; nor was it fit to deal so
|
|
roughly with a living body; yet Thomas ties up his faith to this
|
|
evidence. Either he will be humoured, and have his fancy gratified, or
|
|
he will not believe; see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+16:1,27:42">Matt. xvi. 1; xxvii. 42</A>.
|
|
|
|
(4.) The open avowal of this in the presence of the disciples was an
|
|
offence and discouragement to them. It was not only a sin, but a
|
|
scandal. As one coward makes many, so does one believer, one sceptic,
|
|
<I>making his brethren's heart to faint like his heart,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+20:8">Deut. xx. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Had he only thought this evil, and then laid his hand upon his mouth,
|
|
to suppress it, his error had remained with himself; but his
|
|
proclaiming his infidelity, and that so peremptorily, might be of ill
|
|
consequence to the rest, who were as yet but weak and wavering.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Joh20_31"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Incredulity of Thomas.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and
|
|
Thomas with them: <I>then</I> came Jesus, the doors being shut, and
|
|
stood in the midst, and said, Peace <I>be</I> unto you.
|
|
27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold
|
|
my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust <I>it</I> into my
|
|
side: and be not faithless, but believing.
|
|
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
|
|
29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me,
|
|
thou hast believed: blessed <I>are</I> they that have not seen, and
|
|
<I>yet</I> have believed.
|
|
30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
|
|
disciples, which are not written in this book:
|
|
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is
|
|
the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
|
|
through his name.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here an account of another appearance of Christ to his
|
|
disciples, after his resurrection, when Thomas was now with them. And
|
|
concerning this we may observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. When it was that Christ repeated his visit to his disciples:
|
|
<I>After eight days,</I> that day seven-night after he rose, which must
|
|
therefore be, as that was, <I>the first day of the week.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He deferred his next appearance for some time, to show his disciples
|
|
that he was not risen to such a life as he had formerly lived, to
|
|
converse constantly with them but was as one that belonged to another
|
|
world, and visited this only as angels do, now and then, when there was
|
|
occasion. Where Christ was during these eight days, and the rest of the
|
|
time of his abode on earth, it is folly to enquire, and presumption to
|
|
determine. Wherever he was, no doubt <I>angels ministered unto him.</I>
|
|
In the beginning of his ministry he had been forty days unseen, tempted
|
|
by the evil spirit,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+4:1,2">Matt. iv. 1, 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
And now in the beginning of his glory he was forty days, for the most
|
|
part unseen, attended by good spirits.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He deferred it so long as seven days. And why so?
|
|
|
|
(1.) That he might put a rebuke upon Thomas for his incredulity. He had
|
|
neglected the former meeting of the disciples; and, to teach him to
|
|
prize those seasons of grace better for the future, he cannot have such
|
|
another opportunity for several days. He that slips one tide must stay
|
|
a good while for another. A very melancholy week, we have reason to
|
|
think Thomas had of it, drooping, and in suspense, while the other
|
|
disciples were full of joy; and it was owing to himself and his own
|
|
folly.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That he might try the faith and patience of the rest of the
|
|
disciples. They had gained a great point when they were satisfied that
|
|
they had seen the Lord. <I>Then were the disciples glad;</I> but he
|
|
would try whether they could keep the ground they had got, when they
|
|
saw no more of him for some days. And thus he would gradually wean them
|
|
from his bodily presence, which they had doted and depended too much
|
|
upon.
|
|
|
|
(3.) That he might put an honour upon the first day of the week, and
|
|
give a plain intimation of his will, that it should be observed in his
|
|
church as the Christian sabbath, the weekly day of holy rest and holy
|
|
convocations. That one day in seven should be religiously observed was
|
|
an appointment from the beginning, as old as innocency; and that in the
|
|
kingdom of the Messiah the first day of the week should be that solemn
|
|
day this was indication enough, that Christ on that day once and again
|
|
met his disciples in a religious assembly. It is highly probable that
|
|
in his former appearance to them he appointed them that day seven-night
|
|
to be together again, and promised to meet them; and also that he
|
|
appeared to them every first day of the week, besides other times,
|
|
during the forty days. The religious observance of that day has been
|
|
thence transmitted down to us through every age of the church. This
|
|
therefore is <I>the day which the Lord has made.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Where, and how, Christ made them this visit. It was at Jerusalem,
|
|
for the doors were shut now, as before, for fear of the Jews. There
|
|
they staid, to keep the feast of unleavened bread seven days, which
|
|
expired the day before this; yet they would not set out on their
|
|
journey to Galilee on the first day of the week, because it was the
|
|
Christian sabbath, but staid till the day after. Now observe,
|
|
|
|
1. That Thomas was with them; though he had withdrawn himself once, yet
|
|
not a second time. When we have lost one opportunity, we should give
|
|
the more earnest heed to lay hold on the next, that we may recover our
|
|
losses. It is a good sign if such a loss whet our desires, and a bad
|
|
sign if it cool them. The disciples admitted him among them, and did
|
|
not insist upon his believing the resurrection of Christ, as they did,
|
|
because as yet it was but darkly revealed; they did not receive him to
|
|
doubtful disputation, but bade him welcome to come and see. But
|
|
observe, Christ did not appear to Thomas, for his satisfaction, till he
|
|
found him in society with the rest of his disciples, because he would
|
|
countenance the meetings of Christians and ministers, for there will he
|
|
be <I>in the midst of them.</I> And, besides, he would have all the
|
|
disciples witnesses of the rebuke he gave to Thomas, and yet withal of
|
|
the tender care he had of him.
|
|
|
|
2. That Christ <I>came</I> in among them, and <I>stood in the
|
|
midst,</I> and they all knew him, for he showed himself now, just as he
|
|
had shown himself before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
still the same, and no changeling. See the condescension of our Lord
|
|
Jesus. The gates of heaven were ready to be opened to him, and there he
|
|
might have been in the midst of the adorations of a world of angels;
|
|
yet, for the benefit of his church, he lingered on earth, and visited
|
|
the little private meetings of his poor disciples, and is in the midst
|
|
of them.
|
|
|
|
3. He saluted them all in a friendly manner, as he had done before; he
|
|
said, <I>Peace be unto you.</I> This was no vain repetition, but
|
|
significant of the abundant and assured peace which Christ gives, and
|
|
of the continuance of his blessings upon his people, for they <I>fail
|
|
not,</I> but are <I>new every morning,</I> new every meeting.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. What passed between Christ and Thomas at this meeting; and that
|
|
only is recorded, though we may suppose he said a great deal to the
|
|
rest of them. Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Christ's gracious condescension to Thomas,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
He singled him out from the rest, and applied himself particularly to
|
|
him: "<I>Reach hither thy finger,</I> and, since thou wilt have it so,
|
|
<I>behold my hands,</I> and satisfy thy curiosity to the utmost about
|
|
the <I>print of the nails; reach hither thy hand,</I> and, if nothing
|
|
less will convince thee, <I>thrust it into my side.</I>" Here we have,
|
|
|
|
(1.) An implicit rebuke of Thomas's incredulity, in the plain reference
|
|
which is here had to what Thomas had said, answering it word for word,
|
|
for he had heard it, though unseen; and one would think that his
|
|
telling him of it should put him to the blush. Note, There is not an
|
|
unbelieving word on our tongues, no, nor thought in our minds, at any
|
|
time, but it is known to the Lord Jesus.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:21">Ps. lxxviii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) An express condescension to this weakness, which appears in two
|
|
things:--
|
|
|
|
[1.] That he suffers his wisdom to be prescribed to. Great spirits will
|
|
not be dictated to by their inferiors, especially in their acts of
|
|
grace; yet Christ is pleased here to accommodate himself even to
|
|
Thomas's fancy in a needless thing, rather than break with him, and
|
|
leave him in his unbelief. He will not <I>break the bruised reed,</I>
|
|
but, as a good shepherd, <I>gathers that which was driven away,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+34:16">Ezek. xxxiv. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
We ought thus to <I>bear the infirmities of the weak,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+15:1,2">Rom. xv. 1, 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He suffers his wounds to be raked into, allows Thomas even to
|
|
thrust his hand into his side, if then at last he would believe. Thus,
|
|
for the confirmation of our faith, he has instituted an ordinance on
|
|
purpose to keep his death in remembrance, though it was an ignominious,
|
|
shameful death, and one would think should rather have been forgotten,
|
|
and no more said of it; yet, because it was such an evidence of his
|
|
love as would be an encouragement to our faith, he appoints the
|
|
memorial of it to be celebrated. And in that ordinance where in we
|
|
<I>show the Lord's death</I> we are called, as it were, to put our
|
|
finger <I>into the print of the nails. Reach hither thy hand</I> to
|
|
him, who reacheth forth his helping, inviting, giving hand to thee.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
It is an affecting word with which Christ closes up what he had to say
|
|
to Thomas: <I>Be not faithless but believing;</I> <B><I>me ginou
|
|
apistos</I></B>--<I>do not thou become an unbeliever;</I> as if he
|
|
would have been sealed up under unbelief, had he not yielded now. This
|
|
warning is given to us all: <I>Be not faithless;</I> for, if we are
|
|
faithless, we are Christless and graceless, hopeless and joyless; let
|
|
us therefore say, <I>Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Thomas's believing consent to Jesus Christ. He is now ashamed of his
|
|
incredulity, and cries out, <I>My Lord and my God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
We are not told whether he did put his finger into the print of the
|
|
nails; it should seem, he did not, for Christ says
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou hast seem, and believed;</I> seeing sufficed. And now
|
|
faith comes off a conqueror, after a struggle with unbelief.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Thomas is now fully satisfied of the truth of Christ's
|
|
resurrection--that the same Jesus that was crucified is now alive, and
|
|
this is he. His slowness and backwardness to believe may help to
|
|
strengthen our faith; for hereby it appears that the witnesses of
|
|
Christ's resurrection, who attested it to the world, and pawned their
|
|
lives upon it, were not easy credulous men, but cautious enough, and
|
|
suspended their belief of it till they saw the utmost evidence of it
|
|
they could desire. Thus <I>out of the eater came forth meat.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He therefore believed him to be Lord and God, and we are to
|
|
believe him so.
|
|
|
|
[1.] We must believe his deity--that he is God; not a man made God, but
|
|
God made man, as this evangelist had laid down his thesis at first,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:1"><I>ch.</I> i. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
The author and head of our holy religion has the wisdom, power,
|
|
sovereignty, and unchangeableness of God, which was necessary, because
|
|
he was to be not only the founder of it, but the foundation of it for
|
|
its constant support, and the fountain of life for its supply.
|
|
|
|
[2.] His mediation--that he is Lord, the one Lord,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+8:6,1Ti+2:5">1 Cor. viii. 6; 1 Tim. ii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
He is sufficiently authorized, as pleni-potentiary, to settle the great
|
|
concerns that lie between God and man, to take up the controversy which
|
|
would inevitably have been our ruin, and to establish the
|
|
correspondence that was necessary to our happiness; see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+2:36,Ro+14:9">Acts ii. 36; Rom. xiv. 9</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) He consented to him as his Lord and his God. In faith there must
|
|
be the consent of the will to gospel terms, as well as the assent of
|
|
the understanding to gospel truths. We must accept of Christ to be that
|
|
to us which the Father hath appointed him. <I>My Lord</I> refers to
|
|
<I>Adonai</I>--my foundation and stay; <I>my God to Elohim</I>--my
|
|
prince and judge. God having constituted him the umpire and referee, we
|
|
must approve the choice, and entirely refer ourselves to him. This is
|
|
the vital act of faith, He is mine,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+2:16">Cant. ii. 16</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) He made an open profession of this, before those that had been the
|
|
witnesses of his unbelieving doubts. He says it to Christ, and, to
|
|
complete the sense, we must read it, <I>Thou art</I> my Lord and my
|
|
God; or, speaking to his brethren, <I>This is</I> my Lord and my God.
|
|
Do we accept of Christ as our <I>Lord God?</I> We must go to him, and
|
|
tell him so, as David
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:2">Ps. xvi. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
deliver the surrender to him as <I>our act and deed,</I> tell others
|
|
so, as those that triumph in our relation to Christ: <I>This is my
|
|
beloved.</I> Thomas speaks with an ardency of affection, as one that
|
|
took hold of Christ with all his might, <I>My Lord</I> and <I>my
|
|
God.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The judgment of Christ upon the whole
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thomas because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed,</I> and it is
|
|
well thou art brought to it at last upon any terms; but <I>blessed are
|
|
those that have not seen, and yet have believed.</I>" Here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Christ owns Thomas a believer. Sound and sincere believers, though
|
|
they be slow and weak, shall be graciously accepted of the Lord Jesus.
|
|
Those who have long stood it out, if at last they yield, shall find him
|
|
ready to forgive. No sooner did Thomas consent to Christ than Christ
|
|
gives him the comfort of it, and lets him know that he believes.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He upbraids him with his former incredulity. He might well be
|
|
ashamed to think,
|
|
|
|
[1.] That he had been so backward to believe, and came so slowly to his
|
|
own comforts. Those that in sincerity have closed with Christ see a
|
|
great deal of reason to lament that they did not do it sooner.
|
|
|
|
[2.] That it was not without much ado that he was brought to believe at
|
|
last: "If thou hadst not seen me alive, thou wouldst not have
|
|
believed;" but if no evidence must be admitted but that of our own
|
|
senses, and we must believe nothing but what we ourselves are
|
|
eye-witnesses of, farewell all commerce and conversation. If this must
|
|
be the only method of proof, how must the world be converted to the
|
|
faith of Christ? He is therefore justly blamed for laying so much
|
|
stress upon this.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) He commends the faith of those who believe upon easier terms.
|
|
Thomas, as a believer, was truly blessed; but rather <I>blessed are
|
|
those that have not seen.</I> It is not meant of not seeing the objects
|
|
of faith (for these are invisible,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:1,2Co+4:18">Heb. xi. 1; 2 Cor. iv. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
but the motives of faith--Christ's miracles, and especially his
|
|
resurrection; blessed are those that see not these, and yet believe in
|
|
Christ. This may look, either backward, upon the Old-Testament saints,
|
|
who had not seen the things which they saw, and yet believed the
|
|
promise made unto the father, and lived by that faith; or forward, upon
|
|
those who should afterwards believe, the Gentiles, who had never seen
|
|
Christ in the flesh, as the Jews had. This faith is more laudable and
|
|
praise-worthy than theirs who saw and believed; for,
|
|
|
|
[1.] It evidences a better temper of mind in those that do believe. Not
|
|
to see and yet to believe argues greater industry in searching after
|
|
truth, and greater ingenuousness of mind in embracing it. He that
|
|
believes upon that sight has his resistance conquered by a sort of
|
|
violence; but he that believes without it, like the Bereans, is more
|
|
noble.
|
|
|
|
[2.] It is a greater instance of the power of divine grace. The less
|
|
sensible the evidence is the more does the work of faith appear to be
|
|
the Lord's doing. Peter is blessed in his faith, because flesh and
|
|
blood have not revealed it to him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+16:17">Matt. xvi. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Flesh and blood contribute more to their faith that see and believe,
|
|
than to theirs who see not and yet believe. Dr. Lightfoot quotes a
|
|
saying of one of the rabbin, "That one proselyte is more acceptable to
|
|
God than all the thousands of Israel that stood before mount Sinai; for
|
|
they saw and received the law, but a proselyte sees not, and yet
|
|
receives it."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The remark which the evangelist makes upon his narrative, like an
|
|
historian drawing towards a conclusion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:30,31"><I>v.</I> 30, 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
And here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He assures us that many other things occurred, which were all worthy
|
|
to be recorded, but are <I>not written in the book: many signs.</I>
|
|
Some refer this to all the signs that Jesus did during his whole life,
|
|
all the wondrous words he spoke, and all the wondrous works he did. But
|
|
it seems rather to be confined to the signs he did after his
|
|
resurrection, for these were in the presence of the disciples only, who
|
|
are here spoken of,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+10:41">Acts x. 41</A>.
|
|
|
|
Divers of his appearances are not recorded, as appears,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:5-7">1 Cor. xv. 5-7</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+1:3">Acts i. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now,
|
|
|
|
(1.) We may here improve this general attestation, that there were
|
|
other signs, many others, for the confirmation of our faith; and, being
|
|
added to the particular narratives, they very much strengthen the
|
|
evidence. Those that recorded the resurrection of Christ were not put
|
|
to fish for evidence, to take up such short and scanty proofs as they
|
|
could find, and make up the rest with conjecture. No, they had evidence
|
|
enough and to spare, and more witnesses to produce than they had
|
|
occasion for. The disciples, in whose presence these other signs were
|
|
done, were to be preachers of Christ's resurrection to others, and
|
|
therefore it was requisite they should have proofs of it <I>ex
|
|
abundanti--in abundance,</I> that they might have a strong consolation,
|
|
who ventured life and all upon it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) We need not ask why they were not all written, or why not more
|
|
than these, or others than these; for it is enough for us that so it
|
|
seemed good to the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration this was given.
|
|
Had this history been a mere human composition, it had been swelled
|
|
with a multitude of depositions and affidavits, to prove the contested
|
|
truth of Christ's resurrection and long argument drawn up for the
|
|
demonstration of it; but, being a divine history, the penmen write with
|
|
a noble security, relating what amounted to a competent proof,
|
|
sufficient to convince those that were willing to be taught and to
|
|
condemn those that were obstinate in their unbelief; and, if this
|
|
satisfy not, more would not. Men produce all they have to say, that
|
|
they may gain credit; but God does not, for he can give faith. Had this
|
|
history been written for the entertainment of the curious, it would
|
|
have been more copious, or every circumstance would have brightened and
|
|
embellished the story; but it was written to bring men to believe, and
|
|
enough is said to answer that intention, whether men will hear or
|
|
whether they will forbear.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He instructs us in the design of recording what we do find here
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>):
|
|
|
|
"These accounts are given in this and the following chapter, <I>that
|
|
you might believe</I> upon these evidences; that you might believe that
|
|
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, declared with power to be so by
|
|
his resurrection."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Here is the design of those that wrote the gospel. Some write
|
|
books for their diversion, and publish them for their profit or
|
|
applause, others to oblige the Athenian humour, others to instruct the
|
|
world in arts and sciences for their secular advantage; but the
|
|
evangelists wrote without any view of temporal benefit to themselves or
|
|
others, but to bring men to Christ and heaven, and, in order to this,
|
|
to persuade men to believe; and for this they took the most fitting
|
|
methods, they brought to the world a divine revelation, supported with
|
|
its due evidences.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The duty of those that read and hear the gospel. It is their duty
|
|
to believe, to embrace, the doctrine of Christ, and that record given
|
|
concerning him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+5:11">1 John v. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
[1.] We are here told what the great gospel truth is which we are to
|
|
believe--that <I>Jesus is that Christ,</I> that <I>Son of God.
|
|
First,</I> That he is the Christ, the person who, under the title of
|
|
the Messiah, was promised to, and expected by, the Old-Testament
|
|
saints, and who, according to the signification of the name, is
|
|
<I>anointed</I> of God to be a prince and a Saviour. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
That he is the Son of God; not only as Mediator (for then he had not
|
|
been greater than Moses, who was a prophet, intercessor, and lawgiver),
|
|
but antecedent to his being the Mediator; for if he had not been a
|
|
divine person, endued with the power of God and entitled to the glory
|
|
of God, he had not been qualified for the undertaking-not fit either to
|
|
do the Redeemer's work or to wear the Redeemer's crown.
|
|
|
|
[2.] What the great gospel blessedness is which we are to hope
|
|
for--<I>That believing we shall have life through his name.</I> This
|
|
is, <I>First,</I> To direct our faith; it must have an eye to the life,
|
|
the crown of life, the tree of life set before us. Life through
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Christ's name, the life proposed in the covenant which is made with us
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in Christ, is what we must propose to ourselves as the fulness of our
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joy and the abundant recompence of all our services and sufferings.
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<I>Secondly,</I> To encourage our faith, and invite us to believe. Upon
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the prospect of some great advantage, men will venture far; and greater
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advantage there cannot be than that which is offered by the <I>words of
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this life,</I> as the gospel is called,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:20">Acts v. 20</A>.
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It includes both spiritual life, in conformity to God and communion
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with him, and eternal life, in the vision and fruition of him. Both are
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through Christ's name, by his merit and power, and both indefeasibly
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sure to all true believers.</P>
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