THE RESURRECTION
But we pass on to the resurrection of the blessed Lord
from the dead; and here we shall have to establish the doctrine before we
enter into its experimental fruits.
1. The first thing that we notice is, what we may call
the grand fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. On this the
whole verity of the Christian faith may be said to be suspended. If Jesus
did not rise from the dead, he was not what he declared he was, "the Son of
the living God." But if he rose from the dead, it was God's own attestation
that he was his only begotten Son, for all will admit that nothing short of
the power of God can raise the dead. For this reason we find in the Acts of
the Apostles the resurrection of the Lord Jesus made a leading feature in
every sermon and every address.
Whether Peter preached to the inquiring Jews, Acts
2:23,24. Acts 3:15. to the opposing Sanhedrin, Acts 4:10. Acts 5:30,31. or
to Cornelius and his friends; Acts 10:39,40. or whether Paul addressed the
synagogue of Antioch, Acts 13:30. the Athenian Areopagus Acts 17:31. or king
Agrippa and the most noble Festus, it might be said of them what the Holy
Spirit declares of all the rest; "And with great power gave the apostles
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." Acts 4:33
Look for a few moments at this remarkable circumstance,
that these blessed men of God made the resurrection of Jesus, as it were,
the very foundation of all their sermons and addresses; for we may be sure
that the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles thus to preach. And see the
reason why they bore this firm testimony in the very forefront of the battle
which they waged in the name of God against the kingdom of darkness and
death. The Lord of life and glory had been condemned to death by the Jewish
council on a charge of blasphemy, first, because he had said that "he would
destroy the temple made with hands, and within three days build another made
without hands;" Mark 14:58. and, secondly, that he had declared, in the very
presence of the council, that he was the Christ, the Son of God. Mark
14:61-64. He therefore died under the charge of blasphemy, in pain and
ignominy, crucified openly for that alleged crime in the face of the
assembled thousands who had come from all parts to Jerusalem to celebrate
the Passover.
Now, had Jesus not risen from the dead that charge would
have been substantiated, and he would have been justly convicted by the
voices of many thousands as having been put righteously to death. It was
necessary, then, not only for the whole economy of redemption, but for the
very veracity of Jesus himself, and for the whole truth of the gospel, that
he should be raised from the dead by the power of God as the seal of his
mission, as the standing, undeniable, irrefutable truth that he was the
Messiah, the Son of God, as he claimed to be.
We see, then, the force and meaning of the apostle's
words, where he says that the Lord Jesus was "declared to be the Son of God
with power by the resurrection from the dead." Romans 1:4. It was God's
attesting witness to his divine Sonship, the visible, ratifying seal to his
heavenly mission. And not only so, but God's own assurance to the church
that his atoning sacrifice had been accepted, that the debt due to law and
justice was fully discharged, and her justification complete, for he "was
delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification;" Romans
4:25. that is, he, as the head and representative of the church, was raised
by God from the dead as justified from all law charges, and the church was
thus visibly and authoritatively declared to be justified in him. This was
the attesting witness from heaven that her justification was complete, and
that Jesus lives at God's right hand to reveal that justification to her
heart, put her into experimental possession of its unspeakable blessedness,
and seal it effectually by the Holy Spirit upon her heart.
2. The next thing that we notice is that each Person of
the sacred Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was engaged in the blessed
work of raising Jesus from the dead. Though the Persons of the Trinity are
essentially distinct, and their acts in the great economy of redemption
separate, yet as one God they participate in the putting forth of every act
of divine power. Thus God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, as we learn
from almost innumerable passages; but see the following, which we need not
quote at length, but simply refer to; (Acts 2:24. Acts 3:15. Acts 4:10. Acts
5:30. Acts 10:40. Acts 13:37. Acts 17:31. Eph 1:20. Col 2:12) But the Son of
God raised himself from the dead, according to his own words of grace and
truth, "Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I
might take it again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." John
10:17,18. He is "the resurrection;" John 11:25. and as he raised Lazarus
from the tomb, and will at the last day raise up the sleeping dust of all
that the Father gave unto him, John 6:39,40. so, by the exercise of the same
divine power, did he raise his own incorruptible body from the grave. The
Holy Spirit also had a blessed participation in the same divine act. We
therefore read that the Lord Jesus was put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit, 1Pe 3:18-the same Holy and Blessed Spirit who will
also quicken the mortal bodies of the saints at the great resurrection.
Romans 8:11
3. The next thing that we notice is, the identity of the
Lord's risen body. It is a cardinal, fundamental article of our most holy
faith that the same actual, identical body was raised from the grave which
was deposited in it. If erroneous men had not indulged their vain
speculations about the risen body of the Lord Jesus, we might well wonder at
their daring attempts to pull up the landmarks which the Holy Spirit has so
plainly set up in the word of truth. The Lord never had, never could have,
two different bodies, one before, another after the resurrection. We might
as well talk of his having two different souls—one soul for earth, and
another soul for heaven. The identity of his body is as indispensable to his
still being Jesus, "the same yesterday, today, and forever," as the identity
of his soul, no less certain, no less necessary, and no less precious. But
because, after the resurrection, the Lord came miraculously into the place
where the disciples were assembled, the doors being shut, and vanished out
of the sight of the disciples at Emmaus, and because they cannot conceive
how he can wear a human body in heaven, such as he had upon earth, men who
would be wise above what is written have assumed that a change took place in
that body, and that it no longer consisted of flesh, and bones, and blood,
as before, but was, as it were, transmuted into some ethereal, celestial
substance, they know not what, but such as they imagine would be more
fitting to inhabit the courts of heaven.
Now, nothing can be more plain, if we are willing to
follow the footsteps of the Holy Spirit, than that it was the same identical
body which hung on the cross that rose from the dead. It would seem, as if
to stop all cavil, and crush in the very bud all such erroneous speculations
as we have alluded to, the Lord himself gave again and again the most
incontrovertible proofs after his resurrection that he was the same Jesus as
before, and not another, and that he wore the same body in all respects
without change or alteration. He did not appear for a few moments only, as
if "showing himself through the lattice," and then hastily withdrawing, but
conversed with them most familiarly, and ate with his disciples after the
resurrection; Luke 24:42,43. Acts 10:41. and for this very purpose, that
they might be standing and undeniable eye and ear witnesses that it was
indeed the very same Jesus with whom they had consorted before his
crucifixion.
Now we all know what a marked change a little alteration
makes in a person's form and features, so that a severe illness, or the
lapse of a few years, makes him scarcely recognizable as the same person by
even his most intimate friends. If, then, any visible change had taken place
in the body of the Lord Jesus, it would not only have destroyed its
identity, but its identification. The whole chain of evidence that it was
indeed the same Jesus who had been crucified that was risen from the dead
would have been broken to pieces unless it was clearly and undeniably the
same form, the same features, the same feet and hands, the same voice—in a
word, the very same Jesus whom they knew so well and loved so dearly. Did
not Mary Magdalene know his form and features well? Could she have been
deceived? Was not John, who leaned on his bosom at the last supper, well
acquainted with his voice, gestures, and countenance? Could he have been
deceived? So with Peter and James, not to name the other disciples who had
attended him daily from the baptism of John. Acts 1:22. One witness might be
deceived, but not so many.
But besides this, there were several special seasons on
which the Lord did not only appear for a short time to his disciples, but
was with them for some time. Look at the instance of Thomas. What can exceed
the clearness of the testimony mercifully produced by his very unbelief? So
firmly fixed was he in his disbelief of the resurrection that he would not
believe that the disciples had seen the Lord as risen from the dead; and
declared that except he should see in his hands the print of the nails; and,
lest his eyes should deceive him, unless he put his fingers into the print
of the nails; and even lest he should be deceived then, except he should
thrust his hand into the very side which had been pierced by the Roman
spear, he would not believe. But how condescendingly to him, and how
graciously for the saints in all ages, did the blessed Lord, eight days
after this unbelieving declaration, appear again gently to reprove him for
his unbelief, but at the same time to afford to the church through him the
memorable testimony that he wore still the same body; that the hands were
the very same hands, still bearing the print of the nails which had fastened
them to the cross, and that it was the very same side which still wore the
thrust-mark of the Roman spear.
If this were not a proof of actual identity where shall
we find one? If this evidence be rejected, what remains but to reject the
whole mystery of the resurrection as an idle tale? Learned men have, by
comparing scripture with scripture, ascertained that the blessed Lord
appeared ten times to eye-witnesses after his resurrection {1} and that at
some of these appearances, as that memorable one recorded in John 21, he
conversed with his disciples as closely and as intimately as before his
resurrection. And that his human body in which he ate and talked with them
was not a shadowy appearance, which had neither flesh nor bones, he spoke to
them, those ever-memorable words, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I
myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see
me have." Luke 24:39. "Behold," said he, "my hands and my feet"—they are
real hands, they are real feet; "that it is I myself," the same, the very
same Jesus, having the same body which you saw him wear before; "handle me,
and see," feel, if you will, whether it be real flesh or an aerial body,
"for a spirit," such as you take me to be, a disembodied soul, or an airy,
unreal phantasm, "has not flesh and bones, as you see me have."
Can anything be stronger than this the Lord's own
testimony to the actual identity of his body before and after his
resurrection? And if it be objected that, whatever the body of the Lord was
then, it is now so exceedingly glorified that it has lost in that glory all
the distinctive features of its former humanity, we reply. How was it with
that same body before the resurrection, on the holy mount, when it was
transfigured before the three disciples, so that "his face did shine as the
sun, and his very clothing," as borrowing luster from his glorious humanity,
"was white as the light?" Matthew 17:1,2. There we see that the brightest
glory no more altered the identity or changed the substance of the Lord's
body than the glory of the face of Moses altered his. When we come to the
ascension of our blessed Lord, we shall see this perhaps more clearly and
distinctly still, or at least view more at length the blessings and benefits
connected with it.
FOOTNOTES:
{1} The Lord's first appearance was to Mary Magdalene—
(Mark 16:9-11. John 20:14-18) his second to the disciples journeying to
Emmaus—(Mark 16:12. Luke 24:13-32) his third to Simon Peter; (Luke 24:33,34.
1Co 15:5) his fourth to the eleven disciples in the absence of Thomas; (Luke
24:36-43. John 20:19-25) his fifth to the eleven again, when Thomas was
present; (Mark 16:14. John 20:27-29) his sixth to the women who had at first
visited the sepulcher; Matthew 28:9,10. his seventh to the apostles and five
hundred brethren at once in Galilee; (Matthew 28:16-20. 1Co 15:6) his eighth
to the disciples when fishing on the lake of Galilee; John 21:1-24. his
ninth to James the Lord's brother; 1Co 15:7. and his tenth and last to all
the apostles assembled at Jerusalem just before his ascension. (Luke
24:44-49. Acts 1:4-8. 1Co 15:7) These are the "many infallible proofs" of
which the Holy Spirit speaks Acts 1:3. that he was really and truly risen
from the dead.