Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Luke 24:47

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 47. Repentance — See its nature fully explained on Matthew 3:1.

Remission of sins — αφεσιν αμαρτιων, The taking away - removal of sins, in general every thing that relates to the destruction of the power, the pardoning of the guilt, and the purification of the heart from the very nature of sin.

Should be preached in his name — See the office of a proclaimer, herald, or preacher, explained, Clarke's note on "Matthew 3:1", and particularly at the end of that chapter. Matthew 3:1- :

In his name - On his authority, and in virtue of the atonement made by him: for on what other ground could the inhabitants of the earth expect remission of sins?

Among all nations — Because God wills the salvation of ALL; and Jesus Christ by his grace has tasted death for EVERY man. Hebrews 2:9.

Beginning at Jerusalem — Making the first overtures of mercy to my murderers! If, then, the sinners of Jerusalem might repent, believe, and be saved, none, on this side hell, need despair.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

163. Sunday night in Jerusalem (Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-23)

While the disciples were together discussing these miraculous appearances, Jesus suddenly appeared among them in the room, even though the doors were locked. This made them think they were seeing a ghost who could pass through walls, but Jesus calmed their fears by showing them his body of flesh and bones, complete with the scars of crucifixion. He also ate some fish, showing that his body had normal physical functions (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-20).

Jesus gave the group of disciples the teaching he had given the two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:44-46). They were witnesses of his ministry, death and resurrection, and he entrusted to them the task of taking his message to all nations. Equipped by his Spirit, they would be his representatives in the world. This was a great responsibility, because as they preached the gospel, people would either believe it and be forgiven, or reject it and suffer judgment (Luke 24:47-49; John 20:21-23).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Repentance - Sorrow for sin and forsaking of it. It was proper that the “necessity” of repentance should be preached among all nations, for all were sinners. See Acts 17:30.

Remission of sins - Pardon or forgiveness of sins. It should be proclaimed that all people should repent, and that those who are penitent may be pardoned.

In my name - By my command it should be proclaimed that people should repent, and by my merit that they may be pardoned. Pardon is offered by the authority of Christ to all nations, and this is a sufficient warrant to offer the gospel “to every man.”

Beginning at Jerusalem - This was the dwelling of his murderers, and it shows his readiness to forgive the vilest sinners. It was the holy place of the temple, the habitation of God, the place of the solemnities of the ancient dispensation, and it was proper that pardon should be first proclaimed there. This was done - the gospel was first preached there. See Acts 2:0. Paul also, in his travels, preached the gospel “first” to the Jews, the ancient people of God, offering them pardon through their own Messiah; and, when “they” rejected it, turned to the Gentiles, Acts 13:46.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

47.To all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Christ now discovers clearly what he had formerly concealed—that the grace of the redemption brought by him extends alike to all nations. For though the prophets had frequently predicted the calling of the Gentiles, still it was not revealed in such a manner that the Jews could willingly admit the Gentiles to share with them in the hope of salvation. Till his resurrection, therefore, Christ was not acknowledged to be any thing more than the Redeemer of the chosen people alone; and then, for the first time, was the wall of partition (Ephesians 2:14) thrown down, that they who had been strangers, (Ephesians 2:19,) and who had formerly been scattered, might be gathered into the fold of the Lord. In the meantime, however, that the covenant of God might not seem to be made void, Christ has assigned to the Jews the first rank, enjoining the apostles to begin at Jerusalem. For since God had peculiarly adopted the posterity of Abraham, they must have been preferred to the rest of the world. This is the privilege of the firstborn which Jeremiah ascribes to them, when Jehovah says, I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is first-born, (Jeremiah 30:9.) This order, too, Paul everywhere observes with the greatest care, telling us that Christ came and proclaimed peace to those who were near, and afterwards to strangers who were at a distance, (Ephesians 2:17.)

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 24

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were very perplexed, behold, two men stood my them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And then they remembered his words, And they returned from the sepulchre, and told all of these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women that were with them, which told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed not ( Luke 24:1-11 ).

"Oh, hysterical women. Lord, deliver us!" And they just didn't believe.

Then rose Peter, and he ran to the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and he departed, wondering in himself what it all meant, [what's happened]. And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs [or about eight miles]. And as they talked together of all of these things which had happened, it came to pass, that, while they were communing together and reasoning, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him ( Luke 24:12-16 ).

So God sort of put blinders on them and they didn't recognize Him.

And he said unto them, What are you guys talking about as you're walking along here? How is it that you look so sad? And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Are you a stranger in Jerusalem, you don't know the things which have come to pass in these days? And Jesus said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and they've crucified him. And we trusted ( Luke 24:17-21 )

It's past tense.

we had trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and besides all this, this is the third day since these things were done ( Luke 24:21 ).

"Hey, man, you must be a stranger; you don't know the things that have happened around here. There was this fellow, Jesus of Nazareth, a great guy! Mighty and power in God, and He went around doing good and He brought us hope. We hoped, we had trusted that He was going to be the One to bring deliverance. But they crucified Him, and this is the third day."

And there were certain women also of our company which made us astonished, they went early to the sepulchre; and when they did not find his body, they came, and said that they had a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it was even as the women had said: but they did not see him. Then he said unto them, O fools, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ( Luke 24:22-25 ):

What's He do? He takes them right back to the Word, right back to the prophecies.

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to have entered into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself ( Luke 24:26-27 ).

And I'll never forgive Cleopas for not writing them down. This is one of the messages of Jesus that I would give anything to have! How I would love to have heard Him start with Moses and go through the Old Testament and bring out all of the scriptures that related to Him, three hundred prophecies that He fulfilled by His birth, life, death, resurrection. Oh, what I wouldn't give to have this sermon recorded. Wouldn't it be great if they had cassettes or something and we could just listen to this message? Oh my!

And they drew near to the village, where they were going: and Jesus acted like he would just keep going on further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day's almost over. And so he went in to stay with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and he blessed it, and he broke it, and he gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight ( Luke 24:28-31 ).

It's interesting to me that it was when He handed them the bread that they recognized. Is it possible that they then saw the nail prints? And their eyes were opened... "Wow!" And then He vanishes out of their sight, disappears.

And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? ( Luke 24:32 )

Have you ever had a burning heart as you read the Word of God? Has it ever just kindled a fire within your heart? There are a lot of people who look for excitement in their religious experiences. They look for emotional highs. They look to discover some kind of a miracle or phenomena that they can get all excited about; an angel appeared, or some other type of phenomena. These men said, "Did not our hearts burn when He talked to us and opened the scriptures to us?" I think that it is a sign of spiritual health and maturity when a person begins to get that burning heart as he searches the scriptures, as the Holy Spirit begins to open the scriptures to him. I tell you, I get so excited just reading the Word of God. I get so excited, there are times when I just really can hardly contain myself; as God's Spirit begins to open up the scriptures to me just as I'm reading. The Spirit of God just begins to open them up, and I just get so excited. I can't describe to you just how exciting it is to be taught of the Spirit, the truth of God's Word, and suddenly just have the understanding given to you and the scriptures opened up to you. That's healthy. There are some people that get excited when people speak in tongues or when people utter prophecies. I get excited over the Word of God. Some people get excited with visions or dreams. I get excited over the Word of God.

So they rose up in the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem ( Luke 24:33 ),

I'll bet they got back to Jerusalem a lot of faster than they got to Emmaus.

and they found the eleven gathered together, and those that were with them, and they said to them, [Hey,] the Lord is risen indeed, he appeared to Simon ( Luke 24:33-34 ).

Telling these two fellows that came in, "The Lord is risen! He appeared to Simon!" And they said, "Hey, we had an experience."

And they told what things were done as they were on the path, and how he was known to them when he broke the bread. And as they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood in the midst, and he said unto them, Shalom ( Luke 24:35-36 ).

Typical Hebrew greeting.

But they were terrified and frightened, and they thought that they were seeing a ghost. And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? why do these questions arise [in your minds and] in your hearts? Behold my hands, my feet, it is me: handle me, and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me have ( Luke 24:37-39 ).

Now there are some people that find difficulty here because Jesus is saying, "Handle Me. See if it isn't Me." When earlier in the day He said to Mary, "Touch Me not. I'm not yet ascended to my Father." The words of Jesus to Mary, "Touch Me not," the words "touch Me not" are a poor translation of the Greek. In the Greek, it reads, "Don't cling to Me." Mary was, no doubt, touching Him already. She, no doubt, had a death grip on Him. "You got away from me once, You'll never get away from me again! All right, I'm not going to let You go." And He said, "Don't cling to Me, Mary. Go and tell My disciples that I'm risen." So it wasn't, "Don't touch Me," some mystic thing, but it's just, "Don't cling to Me, Mary. Go tell the disciples I am risen." Here He's saying, "Look, handle Me. See if it isn't Me. Ghosts don't have flesh and bones as you see Me have."

And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy ( Luke 24:40-41 ),

Now it was just too much. "We can't believe it; it's just too much."

and they were wondering, he said unto them, Do you have any meat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and some honeycomb. And he ate it before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all of the things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, and in the psalms ( Luke 24:41-44 ),

The Psalms are filled with prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. There are entire Psalms that are known as Messianic Psalms; Psalms 22 , graphic description of the crucifixion. Psalm 110 , the priest after the order of Melchizedek. Psalm 118...and just over and over, many Psalms. And so He said, "Didn't I tell you that these scriptures must be fulfilled, Moses and the prophets and the Psalms?"

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures ( Luke 24:45 ).

And that's a glorious gift, when God opens your understanding that you might understand. And that happens when you're born again. If you try and read the scriptures without being born again, they're a mystery to you. "For the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them, they are spiritually discerned. But he which is spiritual understands, though he is not understood by any" ( 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 ).

And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved the Messiah to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are the witnesses of these things ( Luke 24:46-48 ).

So, here He is commissioning them, that they should go out and preach the repentance and the remission of sins to all nations. "And behold, I sent the promise of my Father upon you..." This is the promise, no doubt, made to Joel in the second chapter of the prophecy of Joel when God said, "And in the last days, saith the Lord, when I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh."

I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with this power from on high ( Luke 24:49 ).

The promise of the Holy Spirit. But they were to wait in Jerusalem until the promise was fulfilled.

Now this translation, "Tarry ye in Jerusalem," was picked up by the Pentecostal churches and they had traditional tarrying meetings where people gathered to tarry to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's unscriptural. Jesus said, "Tarry in the city of Jerusalem." So to tarry in Santa Ana would not be scriptural.

Jesus was not prescribing the method by which the Holy Spirit should be poured out upon all believers during church history. There was to be that initial day in which the Spirit of God would be poured out upon the church as an abiding gift. They were to wait for that day, they were to wait in Jerusalem for that day. Once the day of Pentecost was fully come and the Holy Spirit was poured out as an abiding gift upon the church, it was never necessary for them to tarry again to receive the Holy Spirit. All that was necessary was for them to by faith receive the gift of God. You don't have to tarry to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's God's gift. You receive it by just faith. "This gift is unto you and your children and to those that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

And so he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and he blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven ( Luke 24:50-51 ).

Now notice, He went as far as Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them. And as He was doing it, He was lifted up and went on into heaven. This was forty days after His crucifixion. He had been around among them for forty days. When you go to Jerusalem today on the Mount of Olives, I think there are three different sights where great churches have been built over the spot where Jesus ascended. The Russians have the Church of Ascension, the Lutherans have the Church of Ascension, and the Catholics have the Church of Ascension, all on the top of the Mount of Olives. And one of them, they'll even show you the footprints that He left in the rock when He ascended. It's interesting they're all on the top of the Mount of Olives, when the scripture said He went as far as Bethany. I'm glad there's no Church of the Ascension in Bethany. So you can just go to Bethany and think, "Somewhere in here Jesus ascended." But you don't have a spot. Nor do you have a lot of baubles and trinkets and souvenir salesmen. Where He ascended is not so important as the fact that He did ascend there from Bethany.

And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen ( Luke 24:52-53 ).

They were continually in the temple...which means that when the Holy Spirit descended upon the church, they were probably in one of the rooms of the temple. Because it was ten days after this that the Holy Spirit did descend. And the fact that they were continuing daily in the temple praising and blessing God, means that this phenomena probably took place right there in the temple, in one of the rooms of the temple where they had gathered to worship and praise the Lord. We'll get to that when we get to Acts, the second chapter, but we won't get to that until we get to John, which we will start next week--the first two chapters of the gospel according to John.

Father, give us burning hearts by unfolding to us the truth of Your Word. And may we feel that excitement, that rush, that thrill of having Thy Spirit, Lord, just opening up the truths and giving us understanding and helping us to know You, Your love, Your way, Your will. Lord, as we go forth this week, guide us. May this be a week of spiritual growth. May this be a week of deepening relationship. May we draw closer to You, Lord. And may You work in our hearts and lives by Your Holy Spirit, as You would conform us into the image of Christ and make us true and faithful witnesses of our Lord. Bless us, strengthen us, help us, Father. In the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

I. The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus 24:13-49

Luke included two of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances in his Gospel, the first one to two disciples and the second to many of the disciples. In both cases the key to their enlightenment was the Hebrew Scriptures.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. The appearances to the disciples in Jerusalem 24:36-49

Luke arranged his accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to give the impression that an ever-increasing audience learned of this great event. First, he recorded an announcement of it with no witnesses (Luke 24:1-12). Then he told of Jesus appearing to two disciples (Luke 24:13-35). Next he presented Jesus materializing in the presence of the Eleven minus Thomas (cf. Mark 16:14; John 20:24). Perhaps he meant this presentation to represent the ever-widening circle of witness that the disciples were to give in the world (cf. Acts 1:8). The arrangement does suggest this to the reader, especially since the third incident contains Luke’s version of the Great Commission.

Luke’s account apparently combines two post-resurrection appearances into one. The writer evidently conflated them to give Jesus’ instructions to His disciples continuity. This section is the basis for Luke’s apologetic for Jesus’ bodily resurrection in Acts 1:3-4 and Peter’s witness to Cornelius in Acts 10:40-43.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The mission of Jesus’ disciples 24:44-49 (cf. Acts 1:3-8)

All the Gospels contain instances of Jesus giving the Great Commission to His disciples, but evidently He did not just give it once. The contexts are different suggesting that He repeated these instructions on at least four separate occasions. This fact obviously reflects the importance of this instruction. The charge that Luke recorded here and in Acts 1:8 was apparently the last one that Jesus gave. The chronological order seems to have been John 20:21; Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19-20; and Luke 24:46-49 and Acts 1:8. This last one occurred just before Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Next Jesus proceeded to show them how the Old Testament also predicted that the gospel should go to everyone, all the nations or Gentiles, beginning from Jerusalem (e.g., Isaiah 2:2-3; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 60:3; Joel 2:28-29; Joel 2:32; Micah 4:1-2). This was also teaching that the Jews of Jesus’ day resisted strongly. The theme of Gentile evangelism is strong in Luke (Luke 10), and it carries over into Acts (Acts 10-11; Acts 13-28). Likewise Luke featured Jerusalem as Jesus’ city of destiny throughout his Gospel. Now it was to become the hub from which the gospel would go out into all the world. Thus this verse is a kind of strait in which the main emphases in Luke converge and through which they pass to Acts. It is Luke’s mission statement for the church.

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 24

THE WRONG PLACE TO LOOK ( Luke 24:1-12 )

24:1-12 On the first day of the week, at the first streaks of dawn, the women came to the tomb, bearing the spices which they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They entered in, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were at a loss what to make of this--look you--two men stood by them in flashing raiment. They were afraid, and they bowed their faces to the ground. But they said to them, "Why are you looking for him who is alive among the dead? He is not here; he is risen. Remember how he said to you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and that he must be crucified, and that on the third day he would rise again." Then they remembered his words; and they returned from the tomb and brought the news of all these things to the eleven and to the others. Mary Magdalene was there, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James. They, and the other women with them, kept telling these things to the apostles. But their words seemed to them an idle tale, and they refused to believe them. But Peter rose up and ran to the tomb; and he stooped down and saw the linen clothes lying all by themselves; and he went away wondering in himself at what had happened.

The Jewish Sabbath, our Saturday, is the last day of the week and commemorates the rest of God after the work of creation. The Christian Sunday is the first day of the week and commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. On this first Christian Sunday the women went to the tomb in order to carry out the last offices of love for the dear dead and to embalm Jesus' body with their spices.

In the east tombs were often carved out of caves in the rock. The body was wrapped in long linen strips like bandages and laid on a shelf in the rock tomb. The tomb was then closed by a great circular stone like a cart-wheel which ran in a groove across the opening. When the women came, they found the stone rolled away.

Just here we have one of those discrepancies in the accounts of the resurrection of which the opponents of Christianity make so much. In Mark the messenger in the tomb is a young man in a long white robe ( Mark 16:5); in Matthew he is the angel of the Lord ( Matthew 28:2). Here it is two men in flashing raiment; and in John it is two angels ( John 20:12). It is true that the differences are there; but it is also true that, whatever the attendant description, the basic fact of the empty tomb never varies, and that is the fact that matters. No two people ever described the same episode in the same terms; nothing so wonderful as the resurrection ever escaped a certain embroidery as it was repeatedly told and retold. But at the heart of this story that all-important fact of the empty tomb remains.

The women returned with their story to the rest of the disciples but they refused to believe them. They called it an idle tale. The word used is one employed by Greek medical writers to describe the babbling of a fevered and insane mind. Only Peter went out to see if it might not possibly be true. The very fact that Peter was there says much for him. The story of his denial of his Master was not a thing that could be kept silent; and yet he had the moral courage to face those who knew his shame. There was something of the hero in Peter, as well as something of the coward. The man who was a fluttering dove is on the way to become a rock.

The all-important and challenging question in this story is that of the messengers in the tomb, "Why are you looking for him who is alive among the dead?" Many of us still look for Jesus among the dead.

(i) There are those who regard him as the greatest man and the noblest hero who ever lived, as one who lived the loveliest life ever seen on earth; but who then died. That will not do. Jesus is not dead; he is alive. He is not merely a hero of the past; he is a living reality of the present.

Shakespeare is dust, and will not come

To question from his Avon tomb,

And Socrates and Shelley keep

An Attic and Italian sleep.

They see not. But, O Christians, who

Throng Holborn and Fifth Avenue,

May you not meet in spite of death,

A traveller from Nazareth?

(ii) There are those who regard Jesus simply as a man whose life must be studied, his words examined, his teaching analysed. There is a tendency to think of Christianity and Christ merely in terms of something to be studied. The tendency may be seen in the quite simple fact of the extension of the study group and the extinction of the prayer meeting. Beyond doubt study is necessary but Jesus is not only someone to be studied; he is someone to be met and lived with every day. He is not only a figure in a book, even if that book be the greatest in the world; he is a living presence.

(iii) There are those who see in Jesus the perfect pattern and example. He is that; but a perfect example can be the most heart-breaking thing in the world. For centuries the birds gave men an example of flight, and yet not till modern times could man fly. Some of us when young were presented at school with a writing book. At the top it had a line of copperplate writing; below it had blank lines on which we had to copy it. How utterly discouraging were our efforts to reproduce that perfect pattern! But then the teacher would come and, with her hand, would guide our hand over the lines and we got nearer the ideal. That is what Jesus does. He is not only the pattern and the example. He helps us and guides us and strengthens us to follow that pattern and example. He is not simply a model for life; he is a living presence to help us to live.

It may well be that our Christianity has lacked an essential something because we too have been looking for him who is alive among the dead.

THE SUNSET ROAD THAT TURNED TO DAWN ( Luke 24:13-35 )

24:13-35 Now--look you--on that same day two of them were on the way to a village called Emmaus, which is about seven miles from Jerusalem; and they talked with each other about all the things which had happened. As they talked about them, and discussed them, Jesus himself came up to them and joined them on their way. But their eyes were fastened so that they did not recognize him. He said to them, "What words are these that you are exchanging with each other as you walk?" And they stood with faces twisted with grief One of them, called Cleopas, answered, "Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that happened in it in these days?" "What kind of things?" he said to them. They said to him, "The story of Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and in word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and rulers handed him over to sentence of death and how they crucified him. As for us--we were hoping that he was the one who was going to rescue Israel. Yes--and to add to it all--this is the third day since these things happened. Yes and some women of our number astonished us, for they went early to the tomb, and, when they did not find his body, they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. And some of our company went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said--but they did not see him." He said to them, "O foolish ones and slow in heart to believe in all the things that the prophets said! Was it not necessary that the anointed one should suffer and enter into his glory?" And beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he made as if he would have gone on; and they pressed him. "Stay with us," they said, "because it is towards evening, and the day is already far spent." So he came in to stay with them. When he had taken his place at table with them, he took bread, and blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them; and their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Was not our heart burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, as he opened the scriptures to us?" And they arose that very hour and went back to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and those with them, and found that they were saying, "It is a fact that the Lord has risen, and he has appeared to Simon." So they recounted all that had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread.

This is another of the immortal short stories of the world.

(i) It tells of two men who were walking towards the sunset. It has been suggested that that is the very reason why they did not recognize Jesus. Emmaus was west of Jerusalem. The sun was sinking, and the setting sun so dazzled them that they did not know their Lord. However that may be, it is true that the Christian is a man who walks not towards the sunset but towards the sunrise. Long ago it was said to the children of Israel that they journeyed in the wilderness towards the sunrising. ( Numbers 21:11.) The Christian goes onwards, not to a night which falls, but to a dawn which breaks--and that is what, in their sorrow and their disappointment, the two on the Emmaus road had not realized.

(ii) It tells us of the ability of Jesus to make sense of things. The whole situation seemed to these two men to have no explanation. Their hopes and dreams were shattered. There is all the poignant, wistful, bewildered regret in the world in their sorrowing words, "We were hoping that he was the one who was going to rescue Israel." They were the words of men whose hopes were dead and buried. Then Jesus came and talked with them, and the meaning of life became clear and the darkness became light. A story-teller makes one of his characters say to the one with whom he has fallen in love, "I never knew what life meant until I saw it in your eyes." It is only in Jesus that, even in the bewildering times, we learn what life means.

(iii) It tells us of the courtesy of Jesus. He made as if he would have gone on. He would not force himself upon them; he awaited their invitation to come in. God gave to men the greatest and the most perilous gift in the world, the gift of free-will; we can use it to invite Christ to enter our lives or to allow him to pass on.

(iv) It tells how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. This always sounds a little as if it meant the sacrament; but it does not. It was at an ordinary meal in an ordinary house, when an ordinary loaf was being divided, that these men recognized Jesus. It has been beautifully suggested that perhaps they were present at the feeding of the five thousand, and, as he broke the bread in their cottage home, they recognized his hands again. It is not only at the communion table we can be with Christ; we can be with him at the dinner table too. He is not only the host in his Church; he is the guest in every home. Fay Inchfawn wrote,

Sometimes, when everything goes wrong;

When days are short and nights are long;

When wash-day brings so dull a sky

That not a single thing will dry.

And when the kitchen chimney smokes,

And when there's naught so 'queer' as folks!

When friends deplore my faded youth,

And when the baby cuts a tooth.

While John, the baby last but one,

Clings round my skirts till day is done;

And fat, good-tempered Jane is glum,

And butcher's man forgets to come.

Sometimes I say on days like these,

I get a sudden gleam of bliss.

Not on some sunny day of ease,

He'll come ... but on a day like this!

The Christian lives always and everywhere in a Christ-filled world.

(v) It tells how these two men, when they received such great joy, hastened to share it. It was a seven miles tramp back to Jerusalem, but they could not keep the good news to themselves. The Christian message is never fully ours until we have shared it with someone else.

(vi) It tells how, when they reached Jerusalem, they found others who had already shared their experience. It is the glory of the Christian that he lives in a fellowship of people who have had the same experience as he has had. It has been said that true friendship begins only when people share a common memory and can say to each other, "Do you remember?" Each of us is one of a great fellowship of people who share a common experience and a common memory of their Lord.

(vii) It tells that Jesus appeared to Peter. That must remain one of the great untold stories of the world. But surely it is a lovely thing that Jesus should make one of his first appearances to the man who had denied him. It is the glory of Jesus that he can give the penitent sinner back his self-respect.

IN THE UPPER ROOM ( Luke 24:36-49 )

24:36-49 While they were still speaking, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you!" They were terrified and afraid, because they thought that they were seeing a spirit. He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do the questions arise in your heart? See 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 that I have." And when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet. When they still thought it too good to be true, and when they were astonished he said to them. "Have you anything to eat here?" They gave him part of a cooked fish, and he took it and ate it before them.

He said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you--that all the things which stand written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds so that they understood the scriptures; and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the anointed one should suffer and should rise from the dead on the third day; and that repentance in his name and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And--look you--I send out the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in this city until you will be clothed with power from on high."

Here we read of how Jesus came to his own when they were gathered in the upper room. In this passage certain great notes of the Christian faith are resonantly struck.

(i) It stresses the reality of the resurrection. The risen Lord was no phantom or hallucination. He was real. The Jesus who died was in truth the Christ who rose again. Christianity is not founded on the dreams of men's disordered minds or the visions of their fevered eyes, but on one who in actual historical fact faced and fought and conquered death and rose again.

(ii) It stresses the necessity of the cross. It was to the cross that all the scriptures looked forward. The cross was not forced on God; it was not an emergency measure when all else had failed and when the scheme of things had gone wrong. It was part of the plan of God, for it is the one place on earth, where in a moment of time, we see his eternal love.

(iii) It stresses the urgency of the task. Out to all men had to go the call to repentance and the offer of forgiveness. The church was not left to live forever in the upper room; it was sent out into all the world. After the upper room came the world-wide mission of the church. The days of sorrow were past and the tidings of joy must be taken to all men.

(iv) It stresses the secret of power. They had to wait in Jerusalem until power from on high came upon them. There are occasions when the Christian may seem to be wasting time, as he waits in a wise passivity. Action without preparation must often fail. There is a time to wait on God and a time to work for God. Fay Inchfawn writes of the days when life is a losing contest with a thousand little things.

"I wrestle--how I wrestle!--through the hours.

Nay, not with principalities and powers--

Dark spiritual foes of God's and man's--

But with antagonistic pots and pans;

With footmarks on the hall,

With smears upon the wall,

With doubtful ears and small unwashen hands,

And with a babe's innumerable demands."

And then, even in the busyness she lays aside her work to be for a moment with God.

"With leisured feet and idle hands, I sat.

I, foolish, fussy, blind as any bat,

Sat down to listen, and to learn. And lo,

My thousand tasks were done the better so."

The quiet times in which we wait on God are never wasted; for it is in these times when we lay aside life's tasks that we are strengthened for the very tasks we lay aside.

THE HAPPY ENDING ( Luke 24:50-53 )

24:50-53 Jesus led them out as far as Bethany; and he raised his hands and blessed them; and as he was blessing them he parted from them, and was borne up into heaven. And when they had worshipped him they returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the Temple praising God.

The ascension must always remain a mystery, for it attempts to put into words what is beyond words and to describe what is beyond description. But that something such should happen was essential. It was unthinkable that the appearances of Jesus should grow fewer and fewer until finally they petered out. That would have effectively wrecked the faith of men. There had to come a day of dividing when the Jesus of earth finally became the Christ of heaven. But to the disciples the ascension was obviously three things.

(i) It was an ending. The days when their faith was faith in a flesh and blood person and depended on his flesh and blood presence were over. Now they were linked to someone who was forever independent of space and time.

(ii) Equally it was a beginning. The disciples did not leave the scene heart-broken; they left it with great joy, because now they knew that they had a Master from whom nothing could separate them any more.

I know not where his islands lift

Their fronded palms in air;

I only know I cannot drift

Beyond his love and care.

"I am sure," said Paul, "that nothing--nothing in life or death--can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." ( Romans 8:38-39.)

(iii) Further, the ascension gave the disciples the certainty that they had a friend, not only on earth, but in heaven. Surely it is the most precious thing of all to know that in heaven there awaits us that self-same Jesus who on earth was wondrous kind. To die is not to go out into the dark; it is to go to him.

So they went back to Jerusalem, and they were continually in the Temple praising God. It is not by accident that Luke's gospel ends where it began--in the house of God.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

Luke 24:47

repentance and remission of sins -- The key elements of Jesus’ preaching an mission. Luke 19:10;

    repentance -- (cf. Mark 1:15; Mark 6:12; Matthew 4:12; Matthew 11:20; Luke 13:3; Luke 13:5).

forgiveness of sins -- cf. Zacharias’ prophecy (cf. Luke 1:67-79), and the meaning of Jesus’ name (YHWH saves, cf. Matthew 1:21).

This verse has often been called "Luke’s Great Commission" (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; John 20:21).

beginning at Jerusalem ... Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1 ff; Acts 11:15 also spoken of the events on Pentecost as "the beginning."

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And that repentance and remission of sins,.... Which are the sum of the Gospel ministry; see Acts 20:21 the doctrine of "repentance" is not of the law, which neither requires, nor admits of it, but of the Gospel. The Persic version calls it, "the Gospel of repentance"; a doctrine preached by John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles; and the thing itself is a blessing of the covenant, a gift of God's grace, and in the hands of Christ to bestow; and therefore the doctrine of it is published in his name, as well as remission of sins; which, though it springs from the free grace of God, is procured by the blood of Christ, and through him it is preached. These two are joined together, not because repentance is the cause of pardon; for repentance makes no satisfaction for sin, or atonement for it; nor does the law at all regard it: tears of repentance will not wash away sin; notwithstanding these, iniquity remains marked before God; Christ's tears themselves did not take away, nor atone for sin; his blood must be shed, and it was shed for the remission of it; and that is the only meritorious cause it. The Syriac version wrongly reads, "repentance for the remission of sins": the Jews c indeed have a notion that repentance atones for sin; but it is a very bad one, and has no countenance neither from the law of nature, nor the law of Moses: but these two are put together, because there is a connection between them, as there is between repentance, and life, and salvation: repentance issues in these things; and to whomsoever the grace of repentance is given, to them the forgiveness of sins is applied; nor need any truly repenting sinner despair of the pardon of his sin: and indeed, there is no true evangelical repentance without views, or at least hopes of pardoning grace, and mercy; for that is attended with faith in Christ, and is heightened by the discoveries of forgiving love: such who have the fullest view of the remission of their sins, have the clearest sense of sin, and have the most sorrow for it, and loath themselves on account of it, and are ashamed of it, and do most frankly confess it, and most thoroughly forsake it. And now it was necessary, according to Old Testament prophecies, that both these

should be preached in his name; in the name of the Messiah; by his authority, and as coming through him; since the remission of sin is by his blood; and he is exalted as a prince, and a Saviour, to give both repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the Israel of God, whether Jews or Gentiles; and therefore it is fitting and proper that these should be preached,

among all nations; of the world, where God's elect are; that so they may be brought hereby to repentance, and receive the forgiveness of their sins:

beginning at Jerusalem; from whence, according to the Old Testament, the word and doctrine of the Lord were to go forth, Psalms 110:2 and is particularly mentioned, because the Gospel was to be first preached to the Jews, and be the power of God unto salvation to them; and because that in Jerusalem lived those who had been concerned in crucifying Christ, to whom repentance and forgiveness must be preached; and which would be a great encouragement to the vilest of sinners, to hope for mercy and forgiveness, since such received both.

c T. Bab. Ceritot, fol. 7. 1.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

Christ's Interview with the Apostles.

      36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.   37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.   38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?   39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.   40 And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.   41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?   42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.   43 And he took it, and did eat before them.   44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.   45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,   46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:   47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.   48 And ye are witnesses of these things.   49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

      Five times Christ was seen the same day that he rose: by Mary Magdalene alone in the garden (John 20:14), by the women as they were going to tell the disciples (Matthew 28:9), by Peter alone, by the two disciples going to Emmaus, and now at night by the eleven, of which we have an account in these verses, as also John 20:19. Observe,

      1. The great surprise which his appearing gave them. He came in among them very seasonably, as they were comparing notes concerning the proofs of his resurrection: As they thus spoke, and were ready perhaps to put it to the question whether the proofs produced amounted to evidence sufficient of their Master's resurrection or no, and how they should proceed, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and put it out of question. Note, Those who make the best use they can of their evidences for their comfort may expect further assurances, and that the Spirit of Christ will witness with their spirits (as Christ here witnessed with the disciples, and confirmed their testimony) that they are the children of God, and risen with Christ. Observe, 1. The comfort Christ spoke to them: Peace be unto you. This intimates in general that it was a kind visit which Christ now paid them, a visit of love and friendship. Though they had very unkindly deserted him in his sufferings, yet he takes the first opportunity of seeing them together; for he deals not with us as we deserve. They did not credit those who had seen him; therefore he comes himself, that they might not continue in their disconsolate incredulity. He had promised that after his resurrection he would see them in Galilee; but so desirous was he to see them, and satisfy them, that he anticipated the appointment and sees them at Jerusalem. Note, Christ is often better than his word, but never worse. Now his first word to them was, Peace be to you; not in a way of compliment, but of consolation. This was a common form of salutation among the Jews, and Christ would thus express his usual familiarity with them, though he had now entered into his state of exaltation. Many, when they are advanced, forget their old friends and take state upon them; but we see Christ as free with them as ever. Thus Christ would at the first word intimate to them that he did not come to quarrel with Peter for denying him and the rest for running away from him; no, he came peaceably, to signify to them that he had forgiven them, and was reconciled to them. 2. The fright which they put themselves into upon it (Luke 24:37; Luke 24:37): They were terrified, supposing that they had seen a spirit, because he came in among them without any noise, and was in the midst of them ere they were aware. The word used (Matthew 14:26), when they said It is a spirit, is phantasma, it is a spectre, an apparition; but the word here used is pneuma, the word that properly signifies a spirit; they supposed it to be a spirit not clothed with a real body. Though we have an alliance and correspondence with the world of spirits, and are hastening to it, yet while we are here in this world of sense and matter it is a terror to us to have a spirit so far change its own nature as to become visible to us, and conversable with us, for it is something, and bodes something, very extraordinary.

      II. The great satisfaction which his discourse gave them, wherein we have,

      1. The reproof he gave them for their causeless fears: Why are you troubled, and why do frightful thoughts arise in your hearts?Luke 24:38; Luke 24:38. Observe here, (1.) That when at any time we are troubled, thoughts are apt to rise in our hearts that do us hurt. Sometimes the trouble is the effect of the thoughts that arise in our hearts; our griefs and fears take rise from those things that are the creatures of our own fancy. Sometimes the thoughts arising in the heart are the effect of the trouble, without are fightings and then within are fears. Those that are melancholy and troubled in mind have thoughts arising in their hearts which reflect dishonour upon God, and create disquiet to themselves. I am cut off from thy sight. The Lord has forsaken and forgotten me. (2.) That many of the troublesome thoughts with which our minds are disquieted arise from our mistakes concerning Christ. They here thought that they had seen a spirit, when they saw Christ, and that put them into this fright. We forget that Christ is our elder brother, and look upon him to be at as great a distance from us as the world of spirits is from this world, and therewith terrify ourselves. When Christ is by his Spirit convincing and humbling us, when he is by his providence trying and converting us, we mistake him, as if he designed our hurt, and this troubles us. (3.) That all the troublesome thoughts which rise in our hearts at any time are known to the Lord Jesus, even at the first rise of them, and they are displeasing to him. He chid his disciples for such thoughts, to teach us to chide ourselves for them. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou troubled? Why do thoughts arise that are neither true nor good, that have neither foundation nor fruit, but hinder our joy in God, unfit us for our duty, give advantage to Satan, and deprive us of the comforts laid up for us?

      2. The proof he gave them of his resurrection, both for the silencing of their fears by convincing them that he was not a spirit, and for the strengthening of their faith in that doctrine which they were to preach to the world by giving them full satisfaction concerning his resurrection. Two proofs he gives them:--

      (1.) He shows them his body, particularly his hands and his feet. They saw that he had the shape, and features, and exact resemblance, of their Master; but is it not his ghost? "No," saith Christ, "behold my hands and my feet; you see I have hands and feet, and therefore have a true body; you see I can move these hands and feet, and therefore have a living body; and you see the marks of the nails in my hands and feet, and therefore it is my own body, the same that you saw crucified, and not a borrowed one." He lays down this principle--that a spirit has not flesh and bones; it is not compounded of gross matter, shaped into various members, and consisting of divers heterogeneous parts, as our bodies are. He does not tell us what a spirit is (it is time enough to know that when we go to the world of spirits), but what it is not: It has not flesh and bones. Now hence he infers, "It is I myself, whom you have been so intimately acquainted with, and have had such familiar conversation with; it is I myself, whom you have reason to rejoice in, and not to be afraid of." Those who know Christ aright, and know him as theirs, will have no reason to be terrified at his appearances, at his approaches. [1.] He appeals to their sight, shows them his hands and his feet, which were pierced with the nails. Christ retained the marks of them in his glorified body, that they might be proofs that it was he himself; and he was willing that they should be seen. He afterwards showed them to Thomas, for he is not ashamed of his sufferings for us; little reason then have we to be ashamed of them, or of ours for him. As he showed his wounds here to his disciples, for the enforcing of his instructions to them, so he showed them to his Father, for the enforcing of his intercessions with him. He appears in heaven as a Lamb that had been slain (Revelation 5:6); his blood speaks,Hebrews 12:24. He makes intercession in the virtue of his satisfaction; he says to the Father, as here to the disciples, Behold my hands and my feet,Zechariah 13:6; Zechariah 13:7. [2.] He appeals to their touch: Handle me, and see. He would not let Mary Magdalene touch him at that time, John 20:17. But the disciples here are entrusted to do it, that they who were to preach his resurrection, and to suffer for doing so, might be themselves abundantly satisfied concerning it. He bade them handle him, that they might be convinced that he was not a spirit. If there were really no spirits, or apparitions of spirits (as by this and other instances it is plain that the disciples did believe there were), this had been a proper time for Christ to have undeceived them, by telling them there were no such things; but he seems to take it for granted that there have been and may be apparitions of spirits, else what need was there of so much pains to prove that he was not one? There were many heretics in the primitive times, atheists I rather think they were, who said that Christ had never any substantial body, but that it was a mere phantasm, which was neither really born nor truly suffered. Such wild notions as these, we are told, the Valentinians and Manichees had, and the followers of Simon Magus; they were called Doketai and Phantysiastai. Blessed be God, these heresies have long since been buried; and we know and are sure that Jesus Christ was no spirit or apparition, but had a true and real body, even after his resurrection.

      (2.) He eats with them, to show that he had a real and true body, and that he was willing to converse freely and familiarly with his disciples, as one friend with another. Peter lays a great stress upon this (Acts 10:41): We did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

      [1.] When they saw his hands and his feet, yet they knew not what to say, They believed not for joy, and wondered,Luke 24:41; Luke 24:41. It was their infirmity that they believed not, that yet they believed not, eti apistounton auton--they as yet being unbelievers. This very much corroborates the truth of Christ's resurrection that the disciples were so slow to believe it. Instead of stealing away his body, and saying, He is risen, when he is not, as the chief priests suggested they would do, they are ready to say again and again, He is not risen, when he is. Their being incredulous of it at first, and insisting upon the utmost proofs of it, show that when afterwards they did believe it, and venture their all upon it, it was not but upon the fullest demonstration of the thing that could be. But, though it was their infirmity, yet it was an excusable one; for it was not from any contempt of the evidence offered them that they believed not: but, First, They believed not for joy, as Jacob, when he was told that Joseph was alive; they thought it too good news to be true. When the faith and hope are therefore weak because the love and desires are strong, that weak faith shall be helped, and not rejected. Secondly, They wondered; they thought it not only too good, but too great, to be true, forgetting both the scriptures and the power of God.

      [2.] For their further conviction and encouragement, he called for some meat. He sat down to meat with the two disciples at Emmaus, but it is not said that he did eat with them; now, lest that should be made an objection, he here did actually eat with them and the rest, to show that his body was really and truly returned to life, though he did not eat and drink, and converse constantly, with them, as he had done (and as Lazarus did after his resurrection, who not only returned to life, but to his former state of life, and to die again), because it was not agreeable to the economy of the state he was risen to. They gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honey-comb,Luke 24:42; Luke 24:42. The honey-comb, perhaps, was used as sauce to the broiled fish, for Canaan was a land flowing with honey. This was mean fare; yet, if it be the fare of the disciples, their Master will fare as they do, because in the kingdom of our Father they shall fare as he does, shall eat and drink with him in his kingdom.

      3. The insight he gave them into the word of God, which they had heard and read, by which faith in the resurrection of Christ is wrought in them, and all the difficulties are cleared. (1.) He refers them to the word which they had heard from him when he was with them, and puts them in mind of that as the angel had done (Luke 24:44; Luke 24:44): These are the words which I said unto you in private, many a time, while I was yet with you. We should better understand what Christ does, if we did but better remember what he hath said, and had but the art of comparing them together. (2.) He refers them to the word they had read in the Old Testament, to which the word they had heard from him directed them: All things must be fulfilled which were written. Christ had given them this general hint for the regulating of their expectations--that whatever they found written concerning the Messiah, in the Old Testament, must be fulfilled in him, what was written concerning his sufferings as well as what was written concerning his kingdom; these God had joined together in the prediction, and it could not be thought that they should be put asunder in the event. All things must be fulfilled, even the hardest, even the heaviest, even the vinegar; he could not die till he had that, because he could not till then say, It is finished. The several parts of the Old Testament are here mentioned, as containing each of them things concerning Christ: The law of Moses, that is, the Pentateuch, or the five books written by Moses,--the prophets, containing not only the books that are purely prophetical, but those historical books that were written by prophetical men,--the Psalms, containing the other writings, which they called the Hagiographa. See in what various ways of writing God did of old reveal his will; but all proceeded from one and the self-same Spirit, who by them gave notice of the coming and kingdom of the Messiah; for to him bore all the prophets witness. (3.) By an immediate present work upon their minds, of which they themselves could not but be sensible, he gave them to apprehend the true intent and meaning of the Old-Testament prophecies of Christ, and to see them all fulfilled in him: Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,Luke 24:45; Luke 24:45. In his discourse with the two disciples he took the veil from off the text, by opening the scriptures; here he took the veil from off the heart, by opening the mind. Observe here, [1.] That Jesus Christ by his Spirit operates on the minds of men, on the minds of all that are his. He has access to our spirits, and can immediately influence them. It is observable how he did now after his resurrection give a specimen of those two great operations of his Spirit upon the spirits of men, his enlightening the intellectual faculties with a divine light, when he opened the understandings of his disciples, and his invigorating the active powers with a divine heat, when he made their hearts burn within them. [2.] Even good men need to have their understandings opened; for though they are not darkness, as they were by nature, yet in many things they are in the dark. David prays, Open mine eyes. Give me understanding. And Paul, who knows so much of Christ, sees his need to learn more. [3.] Christ's way of working faith in the soul, and gaining the throne there, is by opening the understanding to discern the evidence of those things that are to be believed. Thus he comes into the soul by the door, while Satan, as a thief and a robber, climbs up some other way. [4.] The design of opening the understanding is that we may understand the scriptures; not that we may be wise above what is written, but that we may be wiser in what is written, and may be made wise to salvation by it. The Spirit in the word and the Spirit in the heart say the same thing. Christ's scholars never learn above their bibles in this world; but they need to be learning still more and more out of their bibles, and to grow more ready and mighty in the scriptures. That we may have right thoughts of Christ, and have our mistakes concerning him rectified, there needs no more than to be made to understand the scriptures.

      4. The instructions he gave them as apostles, who were to be employed in setting up his kingdom in the world. They expected, while their Master was with them, that they should be preferred to posts of honour, of which they thought themselves quite disappointed when he was dead. "No," saith, he, "you are now to enter upon them; you are to be witnesses of these things (Luke 24:48; Luke 24:48), to carry the notice of them to all the world; not only to report them as matter of news, but to assert them as evidence given upon the trial of the great cause that has been so long depending between God and Satan, the issue of which must be the casting down and casting out of the prince of this world. You are fully assured of these things yourselves, you are eye and ear-witnesses of them; go, and assure the world of them; and the same Spirit that has enlightened you shall go along with you for the enlightening of others." Now here they are told,

      (1.) What they must preach. They must preach the gospel, must preach the New Testament as the full accomplishment of the Old, as the continuation and conclusion of divine revelation. They must take their bibles along with them (especially when they preached to the Jews; nay, and Peter, in his first sermon to the Gentiles, directed them to consult the prophets, Acts 10:43), and must show people how it was written of old concerning the Messiah, and the glories and graces of his kingdom, and then must tell them how, upon their certain knowledge, all this was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.

      [1.] The great gospel truth concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ must be published to the children of men (Luke 24:46; Luke 24:46): Thus it was written in the sealed book of the divine counsels from eternity, the volume of that book of the covenant of redemption; and thus it was written in the open book of the Old Testament, among the things revealed; and therefore thus it behoved Christ to suffer, for the divine counsels must be performed, and care taken that no word of God fall to the ground. "Go, and tell the world," First, "That Christ suffered, as it was written of him. Go, preach Christ crucified; be not ashamed of his cross, not ashamed of a suffering Jesus. Tell them what he suffered, and why he suffered, and how all the scriptures of the Old Testament were fulfilled in his sufferings. Tell them that it behoved him to suffer, that it was necessary to the taking away of the sin of the world, and the deliverance of mankind from death and ruin: nay, it became him to be perfected through sufferings," Hebrews 2:10. Secondly, "That he rose from the dead on the third day, by which not only all the offence of the cross was rolled away, but he was declared to be the Son of God with power, and in this also the scriptures were fulfilled (see 1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Corinthians 15:4); go, tell the world how often you saw him after he rose from the dead, and how intimately you conversed with him. Your eyes see" (as Joseph said to his brethren, when his discovering himself to them was as life from the dead) "that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you,Genesis 45:12. Go, and tell them, then, that he that was dead is alive, and lives for evermore, and has the keys of death and the grave,"

      [2.] The great gospel duty of repentance must be pressed upon the children of men. Repentance for sin must be preached in Christ's name, and by his authority, Luke 24:47; Luke 24:47. All men every where must be called and commanded to repent,Acts 17:30. "Go, and tell all people that the God that made them, and the Lord that bought them, expects and requires that, immediately upon this notice given, they turn from the worship of the gods that they have made to the worship of the God that made them; and not only so, but from serving the interests of the world and the flesh; they must turn to the service of God in Christ, must mortify all sinful habits, and forsake all sinful practices. Their hearts and lives must be changed, and they must be universally renewed and reformed."

      [3.] The great gospel privilege of the remission of sins must be proposed to all, and assured to all that repent, and believe the gospel. "Go, tell a guilty world, that stands convicted and condemned at God's bar, that an act of indemnity has passed the royal assent, which all that repent and believe shall have the benefit of, and not only be pardoned, but preferred by. Tell them that there is hope concerning them."

      (2.) To whom they must preach. Whither must they carry these proposals, and how far does their commission extend? They are here told, [1.] That they must preach this among all nations. They must disperse themselves, like the sons of Noah after the flood, some one way and some another, and carry this light along with them wherever they go. The prophets had preached repentance and remission to the Jews, but the apostles must preach them to all the world. None are exempted from the obligations the gospel lays upon men to repent, nor are any excluded from those inestimable benefits which are included in the remission of sins, but those that by their unbelief and impenitency put a bar in their own door. [2.] That they must begin at Jerusalem There they must preach their first gospel sermon; there the gospel church must be first formed; there the gospel day must dawn, and thence that light shall go forth which must take hold on the ends of the earth. And why must they begin there? First, Because thus it was written, and therefore it behoved them to take this method. The word of the Lord must go forth from Jerusalem,Isaiah 2:3. And see Joel 2:32; Joel 3:16; Obadiah 1:21; Zechariah 14:8. Secondly, Because there the matters of fact on which the gospel was founded were transacted; and therefore there they were first attested, where, if there had been any just cause for it, they might be best contested and disproved. So strong, so bright, is the first shining forth of the glory of the risen Redeemer that it dares face those daring enemies of his that had put him to an ignominious death, and sets them at defiance. "Begin at Jerusalem, that the chief priests may try their strength to crush the gospel, and may rage to see themselves disappointed." Thirdly, Because he would give us a further example of forgiving enemies. Jerusalem had put the greatest affronts imaginable upon him (both the rulers and the multitude), for which that city might justly have been excepted by name out of the act of indemnity; but no, so far from that, the first offer of gospel grace is made to Jerusalem, and thousands there are in a little time brought to partake of that grace.

      (3.) What assistance they should have in preaching. It is a vast undertaking that they are here called to, a very large and difficult province, especially considering the opposition this service would meet with, and the sufferings it would be attended with. If therefore they ask, Who is sufficient for these things? here is an answer ready: Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, and you shall be endued with power from on high,Luke 24:49; Luke 24:49. He here assures them that in a little time the Spirit should be poured out upon them in greater measures than ever, and they should thereby be furnished with all those gifts and graces which were necessary to their discharge of this great trust; and therefore they must tarry at Jerusalem, and not enter upon it till this be done. Note, [1.] Those who receive the Holy Ghost are thereby endued with a power from on high, a supernatural power, a power above any of their own; it is from on high, and therefore draws the soul upward, and makes it to aim high. [2.] Christ's apostles could never have planted his gospel, and set up his kingdom in the world, as they did, if they had not been endued with such a power; and their admirable achievements prove that there was an excellency of power going along with them. [3.] This power from on high was the promise of the Father, the great promise of the New Testament, as the promise of the coming of Christ was of the Old Testament. And, if it be the promise of the Father, we may be sure that the promise is inviolable and the thing promised invaluable. [4.] Christ would not leave his disciples till the time was just at hand for the performing of this promise. It was but ten days after the ascension of Christ that there came the descent of the Spirit. [5.] Christ's ambassadors must stay till they have their powers, and not venture upon their embassy till they have received full instructions and credentials. Though, one would think, never was such haste as now for the preaching of the gospel, yet the preachers must tarry till they be endued with power from on high, and tarry at Jerusalem, though a place of danger, because there this promise of the Father was to find them, Joel 2:28.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Beginning at Jerusalem; Christ's First and Last Subject

Beginning at Jerusalem

June 14th, 1883

by

C. H. SPURGEON

"And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name

among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."-- Luke 24:47 .

The servants of God were not left to originate a gospel for themselves, as

certain modern teachers appear to do, nor were they even left to map out

their mode of procedure in the spreading of the glad tidings. They were

told by their great Master what to preach, and where to preach it, and how

to preach it, and even where to begin to preach it. There is ample room for

the exercise of our thought in obeying Christ's commands; but the worldly

wise in these days call no one a thoughtful person who is content to be a

docile follower of Jesus. They call themselves "thoughtful and cultured"

simply because they set up their own thoughts in opposition to the thoughts

of God. It were well if they would remember the old proverb--"Let another

praise thee, and not thine own lips." As a rule those who call themselves

"intellectual" are by no means persons of great intellect. Great minds

seldom proclaim their own greatness. These boasters are not satisfied to be

"followers of God, as dear children," but must strike out a path for

themselves; this reveals their folly rather than their culture. We shall find

use for every faculty which we possess, even if we are endowed with ten

talents, in doing just as we are bidden by our Lord. Implicit obedience is

not thoughtless: on the contrary, it is necessary to its completeness that

heart and mind should be active in it.

I. Ye that would faithfully serve Christ note carefully how he taught his

disciples WHAT THEY WERE TO PREACH. We find different descriptions of the

subject of our preaching, but on this occasion it is comprised in two

things--repentance and remission of sins. I am glad to find in this verse

that old- fashioned virtue called repentance. It used to be preached, but

it has gone out of fashion now. Indeed, we are told that we always

misunderstood the meaning of the word "repentance"; and that it simply

means a "change of mind," and nothing more. I wish that those who are so

wise in their Greek knew a little more of that language, for they would not

be so ready with their infallible statements. True, the word does signify a

change of mind, but in its Scriptural connection it indicates a change of

mind of an unusual character. It is not such a fitful thing as men mean

when they speak of changing their minds, as some people do fifty times a

day; but it is a change of mind of a deeper kind. Gospel repentance is a

change of mind of the most radical sort--such a change as never was wrought

in any man except by the Spirit of God. We mean to teach repentance, the

old-fashioned repentance, too; and I do not know a better description of it

that the child's verse:--

"Repentance is to leave

The things we loved before,

And show that we in earnest grieve

By doing so no more."

Let every man understand that he will never have remission of sin while he

is in love with sin; and that if he abides in sin he cannot obtain the pardon

of sin. There must be a hatred of sin, a loathing of it, and a turning from

it, or it is not blotted out. We are to preach repentance as a duty. "The

times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men

everywhere to repent." "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the

name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." He that has sinned is

bound to repent of having sinned: it is the least that he can do. How can

any man ask God for mercy while he abides in his sin?

We are to preach the acceptableness of repentance. In itself considered

there is nothing in repentance deserving of the favour of God; but, the Lord

Jesus Christ having come, we read, "He that confesseth and forsaketh his

sin shall find mercy." God accepts repentance for the sake of his dear Son.

He smiles upon the penitent sinner, and puts away his iniquities. this we

are to make known on all sides.

We are also to preach the motives of repentance--that men may not repent

from mere fear of hell, but they must repent of sin itself. Every thief is

sorry when he has to go to prison: every murderer is sorry when the noose

is about his neck: the sinner must repent, not because of the punishment of

sin, but because his sin is sin against a pardoning God, sin against a

bleeding Saviour, sin against a holy law, sin against a tender gospel. The

true penitent repents of sin against God, and he would do so even if there

were no punishment. When he is forgiven, he repents of sin more than

ever; for he sees more clearly than ever the wickedness of offending so

gracious a God.

We are to preach repentance in its perpetuity. Repentance is not a grace

which is only to be exercised by us for a week or so at the beginning of our

Christian career: it is to attend us all the way to heaven. Faith and

repentance are to be inseparable companions throughout our pilgrimage to

glory. Repenting of our sin, and trusting in the great Sinbearer, is to be the

tenor of our lives; and we are to preach to men that it must be so.

We are to tell them of the source of repentance, namely, that the Lord

Jesus Christ is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins.

Repentance is a plant that never grows on nature's dunghill: the nature

must be changed, and repentance must be implanted by the Holy Spirit, or

it will never flourish in our hearts. We preach repentance as a fruit of the

Spirit, or else we greatly err.

Our second theme is to be remission of sins. What a blessed subject is this!

To preach the full pardon of sin--that it is blotted out once for all; the

free pardon of sin--that God forgives voluntarily of his own grace; free

forgiveness for the very chief of sinners for all their sins, however black

they may be; is not this a grand subject? We are to preach a final and

irreversible remission; not a pardon which is given and taken back again,

so that a man may have his sins forgiven and yet be punished for them. I

loathe such a gospel as that, and could not preach it. It would come with an

ill grace from these lips. But the pardon of God once given stands for ever.

If he has cast our sin into the depths of the sea it will never be washed up

again.If he has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is

from the west, how can they return to condemn us? Once washed in the

blood of the Lamb we are clean. The deed is done: the one offering has put

away for ever all the guilt of believers.

Now this is what we are to preach--free, full, irreversible pardon for all

that repent of sin, and lay hold on Christ by faith. O servants of the

Lord, be not ashamed to declare it, for this is your message!

II. Next to this, we are told WHERE IT IS TO BE PREACHED. The text

says that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name

among all nations. Here, then, we have the divine warrant for missions.

They are no speculations, or enthusiastic dreams; they are matters of divine

command. I daresay you have heard of what the Duke of Wellington said to

a missionary in India who was questioning whether it was of any use to

preach the gospel to the Hindus. "What are your marching orders?" said

this man of discipline and obedience. "What are your marching orders?"

that is the deciding question. Now the marching orders are, "Go ye into all

the world and preach the gospel to every creature." What a wonder it is

that the church did not see this long before. After her first days she seems

to have fallen asleep, and it is scarcely a hundred years ago since in the

providence and grace of God the church began to wake to her high

enterprise. We are to preach the gospel everywhere: missions are to be

universal. All nations need the preaching of the word. The gospel is a

remedy for every human ill among all the races that live upon the face of

the earth. Some out of all nations shall receive it; for there shall be

gathered before the eternal throne men out of every kindred, and nation,

and tongue. No nation will utterly refuse it: there will be found a remnant

according to the election of grace even among the most perverse of the

tribes of men.

We ought to preach it to every creature, for it is written that it behoved to

be so. Read the forty-sixth verse: "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved

Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: . . . and that

repentance and remission of sins should be preached among all nations."

Brethren, there was a divine necessity that Christ should die, and an

equally imperative must that he should arise again from the dead; but there

is an equally absolute necessity that Jesus should be preached to every

creature under heaven. It behooves to be so. Who, then, will linger? Let us

each one, according to his ability and opportunity, tell to all around us the

story of the forgiveness of sin through the Mediator's sacrifice to as many

as confess their sin and forsake it. We are bidden to preach repentance of

sin and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, let us not be slow to do so.

III. But this is not all . We are actually told HOW TO PREACH IT.

Repentance and remission are to be preached in Christ's name. What does

this mean? Ought we not to learn from this that we are to tell the gospel to

others, because Christ orders us to do so? In Christ's name we must do it.

Silence is sin when salvation is the theme. If these should hold their peace,

the stones would cry out against them. My brethren, you must proclaim the

gospel according to your ability: it is not a thing which you may do or may

not do at your own discretion; but you must do it if you have any respect for

your Saviour's name. If you dare pray in that name, if you dare hope in that

name, if you hear the music of joy in that name, then in the name of Jesus

Christ preach the gospel in every land.

But it means more than that. Not only preach it under his orders, but

preach it on his authority. The true servant of Christ has his Master to back

him up. The Lord Jesus will seal by threatening or by grace the word of his

faithful messengers. If we threaten the ungodly, the threatening shall be

fulfilled. If we announce God's promise to the penitent, that promise shall

be surely kept. The Lord Jesus will not let the words of his own

ambassadors fall to the ground. "Lo, I am with you alway," says he, "even

to the end of the world. Go ye therefore and teach all nations." You have

Christ with you: teach the nations by his authority.

But does it not mean, also, that the repentance and the remission which are

so bound together come to men by virtue of his name? Oh, sinner, there

would be no acceptance of your repentance if it were not for that dear

name! Oh, guilty conscience, there would be no ease for you through the

remission of sin if it were not that the blessed name of Jesus is sweet to the

Lord God of hosts! We dare preach pardon to you in his name. The blood

has been shed and sprinkled on the burning throne: the Christ has gone in

within the veil, and stands there "able to save to the uttermost them that

come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for

them." Salvation in his name there is assuredly, and this is our glory; but

"there is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we

must be saved." That name has a fullness of saving efficacy, and if you will

but rest in it, you shall find salvation, and find it now. Thus you see we are

not bidden to go forth and say--We preach you the gospel in the name of

our own reason; or we preach you the gospel in the name of the church to

which we belong, or by the authority of a synod, or a bishop, or a creed, or

a whole church. No, we declare the truth in the name of Christ. Christ has

set his honour to pawn for the truth of the gospel. He will lose his glory if

sinners that believe and repent are not saved. Dishonour will come to the

Son of God if any man repenting of sin is not accepted before God. For his

name's sake he will not cast away one that comes to him. O chief of

sinners! he will receive you if you will come. He cannot reject you; that

were to be false to his own promise, untrue to his own nature.

Be sure then that you preach in Christ's name. If you preach in your own

name it is poor work. A man says to me, "I cannot tell a dead sinner to

live. I cannot tell a blind sinner to see. I cannot invite an insensible

sinner; it is absurd; for the sinner is altogether without strength." No,

dear sir, I do not suppose you can do so while you speak according to

carnal reason. Does the good man say that God has not sent him to bid the

dead arise? Then let him not do it. Pray let him not try to do what God

never sent him to do. Let him go home and go to bed; he will probably do as

much good asleep as awake. But as for me, I am sent to preach in Jesus'

name, "Believe and live," and therefore I am not slow to do so. I am sent

on purpose to say, Ye dry bones, live, and I dare do no otherwise. No

faithful minister who knows what faith means looks to the sinner for power

to believe, or looks to himself for power; but he looks to the Master that

sent him for power; and in the name of Christ he says to the withered hand,

"Be stretched out," and he says to the dead, "Come forth!" and he does not

speak in vain. Oh, yes, it is in Christ's name that we fulfill our office! We

are miracle-workers: he endows us with his power if in faith we tell out his

gospel. All of you who try to speak the gospel may do it without fear of

failure; for the power lies in the gospel and in the Spirit who goes with it,

not in the preacher or in the sinner. Blessed be the name of God, we have

this treasure in earthen vessels but the excellency of the power is of God,

and not of us. So he tells us, then, what to preach, and where to preach it,

and how to preach it.

IV. Now, I shall ask your attention to the principal topic of the present

discourse, and that is, that he told his disciples WHERE TO BEGIN.

I have heard of a Puritan who had in his sermon forty-five main divisions,

and about ten subdivisions under every head. He might be said largely to

divide the word of truth, even if he did not rightly divide it. Now,I have

nine subheads to-night, and yet I hope I shall not detain you beyond the

usual time. I cannot make fewer of them and give the full meaning of this

sentence--"Beginning at Jerusalem." The apostles were not to pick and

choose where they should start, but they were to begin at Jerusalem. Why?

First, because it was written in the Scriptures that they were to begin at

Jerusalem: "Thus it is written,and thus it behooves, that repentance and

remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem." It was so written: I will give you two or three

proofs. Read in the second chapter of Isaiah, at the third verse: "Out of

Zion shall come forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

Isaiah's word would have fallen to the ground if the preaching had not

begun at Jerusalem; but now, to the very letter, this prediction of the

evangelical prophet is kept. In Joel, that famous Joel who prophesied the

descent of the Spirit and the speaking of the servants and the handmaidens,

we read in the second chapter, at the thirty-second verse, "In mount Zion

and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance;" and again in the sixteenth verse of

the third chapter of the same prophet--"The Lord shall roar out of Zion,

and utter his voice from Jerusalem." As if the Lord were as a strong lion in

the midst of Jerusalem, and as if the sounding forth of the gospel was like

the roaring of his voice, that the nations might hear and tremble. How

could those promises have been kept if the gospel had begun to be preached

in the deserts of Arabia, or if the first church of Christ had been set up at

Damascus? Note another passage. Obadiah in his twenty-first verse says,

"Saviours shall come up on mount Zion." Who were these saviours but

those who instrumentally became so by proclaiming the Saviour Jesus

Christ. And Zechariah, who is full of visions, but not visionary, says in his

fourteenth chapter at the eighth verse, "Living waters shall flow out of

Jerusalem," and then he describes the course of those waters till they

flowed even unto the Dead Sea, and made its waters sweet. Because the

Bible said so, therefore they must begin at Jerusalem, and I call your

attention to this, for our Lord Jesus was particular that every jot and tittle

of the Old Testament should be fulfilled. Do you not think that this reads

us a lesson that we should be very reverent towards every sentence of both

the Old and the New Testaments; and if there be anything taught by our

Lord ought not his people to consider well, and act according to the divine

ordinance? I am afraid that many take their religion from their parents, or

from the church that is nearest to them, without weighing it. "I counsel

thee to keep the King's commandment." Oh, that we may be more faithful

servants of the Lord; for if we are faithful we shall be careful upon what

men call small points, such as the doctrine of baptism, the manner of the

Lord's Supper, or this small point of where the gospel should be first

preached. It must begin at Jerusalem and nowhere else; for the Scripture

cannot be broken. See ye to it, then, that ye walk according to the word of

God, and that ye test everything by it. "To the law and to the testimony: if

they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in

them." So much on that first head.

Secondly, I suppose that our Lord bade his disciples begin to preach the

gospel at Jerusalem, because it was at Jerusalem that the facts which make

up the gospel had occurred. It was there that Jesus Christ died, that he was

buried, that he rose again, and that he ascended into heaven. All these

things happened at Jerusalem, or not far from it. Therefore the witness-

bearing of the apostles must be upon the spot where if they lie they can be

confuted, and where persons can come forward and say, "It was not so; you

are deceivers." If our Lord had said, "Do not say anything in Jerusalem. Go

away to Rome and begin preaching there," it would not have looked quite

so straightforward as it now does when he says, "Preach this before the

scribes and the priests. They know that it is so. They have bribed the

soldiers to say otherwise, but they know that I have risen." The disciples

were to preach the gospel in the streets of Jerusalem. There were people in

that city who were once lame, and who leaped like a hart when Jesus

healed them. There were men and women there who ate of the fish and

that bread that Jesus multiplied. There were people in Jerusalem who had

seen their children and their friends healed of dreadful diseases. Jesus bids

his disciples beard the lion in his den, and declare the gospel on the spot

where, if it had been untrue, it would have been contradicted with violence.

Our Lord seemed to say, "Point to the very place where my death took

place. Tell them that they crucified me; and see if they dare deny it. Bring

it home to their consciences that they rejected the Christ of God." Hence it

was that, coming to the very people who had seen these things, the

preaching of Peter had unusual force about it: in addition to the power of

the Holy Spirit there was also this--that he was telling them of a crime

which they had newly committed, and could not deny: and when they saw

their error they turned to God with penitent hearts. I like this thought--that

they were to begin at Jerusalem, because there the events of the gospel

occurred. This is a direction for you, dear friend: if you have been newly

converted, do not be ashamed to tell those who know you. A religion which

will not stand the test of the fireside is not worth much! "Oh," says one. "I

have never told my husband. I get out on a Thursday night, but he does not

know where I am going, and I steal in here. I have never even told my

children that I am a believer. I do not like to let it be known. I am afraid

that all my family would oppose me." Oh, yes; you are going to heaven,

round by the back lanes. Going to sneak into glory as a rat crawls into a

room through a hole in the floor! Do not attempt it. Never be ashamed of

Christ. Come straight out and say to your friends, "You know what I was;

but now I have become a disciple of Jesus Christ." Begin at Jerusalem: it

was your Lord's command. He had nothing to be ashamed of. There was no

falsehood in what he bade his disciples preach, and therefore he did as

good as say, "Hang up my gospel to the light. It is nothing but truth,

therefore display it before mine enemies' eyes." If yours is a true, genuine,

thorough conversion, I do not say that you are to go up and down the street

crying out that you are converted; but on due occasions you must not hide

your convictions. Conceal not what the Lord has done for you, but hold up

your candle in your own house.

The third reason why the Lord Jesus told them to begin at Jerusalem may

have been that he knew that there would come a time when some of his

disciples would despise the Jews, and therefore he said--When you preach

my gospel, begin with them. This is a standing commandment, and

everywhere we ought to preach the gospel to the Jew as well as to the

Gentile; Paul even says, "to the Jew first." Some seem to think that there

ought to be no mission to the Jews--that there is no hope of converting

them, that they are of no use when they are converted, and so on. I have

even heard some who call themselves Christians speak slightingly of the

Jewish people. What! and your Lord and Master a Jew! There is no race on

earth so exalted as they are. They are the seed of Abraham, God's friend.

We have nobles and dukes in England, but how far could they trace their

pedigree? Why, up to a nobody. But the poorest Jew on earth is descended

linearly from Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. Instead of treating them with

anything like disrespect, the Saviour says, "Begin at Jerusalem." Just as we

say, "Ladies first," so it is "the Jew first." They take precedence among

races, and are to be first waited on at the gospel feast. Jesus would have us

entertain a deep regard to that nation which God chose of old, and out of

which Christ also came, for he is of the seed of Abraham according to the

flesh. He puts those first who knew him first. Let us never sneer at a Jew

again; for our Lord teaches us the rule of his house when he says, "Begin at

Jerusalem." Let the seed of Israel first have the gospel presented to them,

and if they reject it we shall be clear of their blood. But we shall not be

faithful to our orders unless we have taken note of Jews as well as Gentiles.

The fourth reason for beginning at Jerusalem is a practical lesson for you.

Begin where you are tempted not to begin. Naturally these disciples would

have said one to another when they met, "We cannot do much here in

Jerusalem. The first night that we met together the doors were shut for fear

of the Jews. It is of no use for us to go out into the street; these people

are all in such an excited frame of mind that they will not receive us; we

had better go up to Damascus, or take a long journey and then commence

preaching; and when this excitement is cooled down, and they have

forgotten about the crucifixion, we will come and introduce Christ

gradually, and say as little as we can about putting him to death." That

would have been the rule of policy--that rule which often governs men who

ought to be led by faith. But our Lord had said, "Beginning at Jerusalem,"

and so Peter must stand up in the midst of that motley throng, and he must

tell them, "This Jesus whom ye have with wicked hands crucified and slain

is now risen from the dead." Instead of tearing Peter to pieces they come

crowding up, crying, "We believe in Jesus: let us be baptized into his

sacred name." The same day there were added to the church three thousand

souls, and a day or two afterwards five thousand were converted by the

same kind of preaching. We ought always to try to do good where we think

that it will not succeed. If we have a very strong aversion as a token that

we are not called to it, we may regard it as a sign that we ought at least to

try it. The devil knows you, dear friend, better than you know yourself. You

see, he has been longer in the world than you have, and he knows a great

deal more about human nature than you do; and so he comes to you, and he

reckons you up pretty accurately, and says, "This brother would be very

useful in a certain sphere of labour, and I must keep him from it." So he

tells the brother that he is not called to it, and that it is not the sort

of thing for him, and so on; and then he says to himself, "I have turned

aside one foe from harming my cause." Yonder is a good sister. Oh, how much

she might do for Christ, but Satan guides her into a work in which she will

never shine; while the holy work which she could do right well is dreaded

by her. I heard a beautiful story last Wednesday, when I was sitting to see

inquirers, and I cannot help mentioning it here, for it may be a suggestion

to some Christian who is present. A brother, who will be received into the

church, was converted in the following way. He came up to London, and

worked in a certain parish in the West- end. He was at work on a sewer,

and a lady from one of the best houses in the West-end came to the men

that were making the sewer and said, "You men, come into my servants'

hall and eat your dinners. I will give you either tea or coffee with your

meal, and then you will not have to go into the public-house." Some of

them went in, but others did not. So the next day the lady came out, and

said, "Now, I know that you think my place too fine for you. You do not

like to come; so I have come out to fetch you in. While this sewer is being

done I should like you to eat your dinners in my house." She got them all

in; and when they had done their dinners and drank their tea or coffee she

began to talk to them about Jesus Christ. The work was a month or so

about, and it was every day the same. Our friend does not know the lady's

name, but he knows the name of Jesus through her teaching. Friends, we

lose hosts of opportunities; I am sure we do. Many ways of doing good

have never occurred to our minds, but they ought to occur to us; and when

they do occur we should use them. Let us crucify the flesh about this. Let

us overcome natural timidity. Let us in some way or other begin at

Jerusalem, which is just where we thought that we never could begin.

Now fifthly. We are getting on, you see. "Beginning at Jerusalem," must

surely mean begin at home. Jerusalem was the capital city of their own

country. You know the old proverb, "The cobbler's wife goes barefoot." I

am afraid that this proverb is verified by some Christians. They do a deal

of good five miles off home, but none at home. I knew a man who used to

go out with preachers every night in the week, and try to preach himself,

poor soul that he was; but his children were so neglected that they were the

most wicked children in the street, and they grew up in all manner of vice.

The father was prancing about and looking after other people, and did not

care for his own family. Now, if you are going to serve Christ to the very

ends of the earth, take care that you begin at home. Dear parents, need I

urge you to look to your own children? It is a great joy to me to know that

the members of the church for the most part do this. When a dear sister

came to me on Wednesday night with three of her children, making four

that had come within the last six weeks, I felt grateful to God that parents

were looking after their offspring. But if any of you are in the Sabbath-

school, and never have a Sabbath-school at home; if any of you talk to

strangers in the aisles, but are neglecting your own sons and daughters--oh,

let it not be so! The power of a father's prayers with his arms about his

boy's neck I know full well. The power of a mother's prayers with her

children all kneeling round her is far greater with the young than any

public ministry will be. Look well to your children: begin at Jerusalem.

Begin with your servants. Do not let a servant live in your house in

ignorance of the gospel. Do not have family prayer merely as a matter of

form, but let it be a reality. Do not have one person working for you to

whom you have never spoken about his or her soul.

Begin with your brothers. Oh, the influence of sisters over brothers! I have

a friend--a dear friend, too--who has long been a man of God, but in his

young days he was a very loose fellow, and often he was all the night away

from home. His sister used to write letters to him, and frequently while half

tipsy he has read them under the street lamp. One letter which he read cut

him to the quick. His sister's grief about him was too much for him, and he

was compelled to seek and find the Saviour. Well has the sister been

rewarded for all her love to him. Oh, dear friends, begin at Jerusalem!

Begin with your brothers and sisters.

Begin with your neighbours. Oh, this London of ours! It is a horrible place

for Christian people to live in! Round about this neighbourhood scarcely

can a decent person remain by reason of the vice that abounds, and the

language that is heard on every side. Many of you are as much vexed to-

day as Lot was when he was in Sodom. Well, bear your witness. Do not be

dumb dogs, but speak up for your Lord and Master whenever you are. Look

at our dear brother Lazenby, who entered a workshop where none feared

the Lord, and has been the means of bringing all in the shop to God.

Another shop has felt his influence, and the first recruit has come to join

the church: I should not wonder if the whole of the workmen in the second

shop should come, too. The Lord grant it. It is marvelous how the gospel

spreads when men are in earnest, and their lives are right. God make you

so to live that you show piety at home.

Then, sixthly, begin where much has been already done. Begin at

Jerusalem. It is hard work, dear friends, to preach to certain people: they

have been preached to so long, like the people at Jerusalem. They know all

about the gospel, it is hard to tell them anything fresh, and yet they have

felt nothing, but remain wedded to their sins. The Jerusalem people had

been taught for centuries in vain; and yet Christ's disciples were to speak to

them first. We must not pass the gospel-hardened; we must labour for the

conversion of those who have enjoyed privileges but have neglected them,

those who have had impressions and have crushed them out, those who

seem now as if they had sealed their own death-warrants and would never

be saved. Do not hesitate to go to them. The Lord has done much already:

it may be that he has laid the fire, and you are to strike the match and

set it all alight. Many people have a love to the gospel, a love to the

house of God, a love to God's people, and yet they have no saving faith.

What a pity! Do not hesitate to address them. I think I hear you say, "I

would rather go and preach to the outcasts." So would I; but you and I are

not allowed to pick our work. Virgin soil yields the best harvest; and if a

man might choose a congregation that is likely to be fruitful, he might

well select those that have never heard the word before. But we have not

our choice. The Saviour's disciples were to begin where the prophets had

prophesied, and had been put to death; where sinners had rejected God's

voice times out of mind. Therefore do not pass by your fellow-seatholders.

Perhaps you say, "Sir, I have spoken to them a great many times, but I

cannot make anything of them." No, you cannot; but God can. Try again.

Suppose that for twenty years you were to sit in this Tabernacle side by

side with an unconverted person, and you were to speak to that person twice

every Sunday and twice in the week, and all the twenty years it should be

in vain; yet if the individual was brought to Christ at last would not his

conversion repay you? Is your time so very precious? Is your ability so

very great? Oh, my dear friend, if you were an archangel it would be worth

while for you to work a thousand years to bring one soul to Christ! A soul

is such a precious jewel that you would be abundantly rewarded if a century

of service only brought you one conversion. Wherefore, in working for

Christ, do not hesitate to go to those who have refused the gospel

hitherto, for you may yet prevail.

Seventhly, begin where the gospel day is short. If you ask me where I get

that thought, it is from the fact that within a very short time Jerusalem was

to be destroyed. The Romans were to come there to slay men, women, and

children, and break down the walls and leave not one stone upon another.

And Christ's disciples knew this; wherefore their Lord said, "Begin at

Jerusalem." Now, then, if you have any choice as to the person you shall

speak to, select an old man. He is near his journey's end, and if he is

unsaved there is but a little bit of candle left by the light of which he may

come to Christ. Choose the old man, and do not let him remain ignorant of

the gospel. Fish him up at once, for with him it is now or never, since he is

on the borders of the grave. Or when any of you notice a girl upon whose

cheek you see that hectic flush which marks consumption--if you notice

during service the deep "churchyard" cough--say to yourself, "I will not let

you go without speaking to you, for you may soon be dead." How many a

time have I seen a consumptive at Mentone apparently getting better; but I

have noticed him rise from dinner with his handkerchief to his mouth and

soon they have whispered, "He died of hemorrhage"--suddenly taken off.

When you meet with a pining case, do not wait to be introduced, but

introduce yourself; and tenderly, gently, quietly, lovingly say a word about

coming to Christ at once. We ought speedily to look up those whose day of

grace is short. Perhaps, also, there is a stranger near you who is going far

away to a distant land, and may never hear the gospel again; therefore, if

you have an opportunity, take care that you avail yourself of it, and reason

with him for Jesus at once. Begin at Jerusalem: begin where the day of

grace is short.

Eighthly, begin, dear friend, where you may expect opposition. That is a

singular thing to advise, but I recommend it because the Saviour advised it.

It was as certain as that twice two are four that if they preached Christ in

Jerusalem, there would be a noise, for there were persons living there who

hated the very name of Jesus, for they had conspired to put him to death. If

they began at Jerusalem they would arouse a ferocious opposition. But

nothing is much better for the gospel than opposition. A man comes into

the Tabernacle to-night, and as he goes away he says, "Yes, I was pleased

and satisfied." In that man's case I have failed. But another man keeps

biting his tongue, for he cannot endure the preaching. He is very angry;

something in the doctrine dos not suit him, and he cries, "As long as I live

I will never come here again." That man is hopeful. He begins to think.

The hook has taken hold of him. Give us time, and we will have that fish.

It is no ill omen when a man gets angry with the gospel. It is bad enough,

but it is infinitely better than that horrible lethargy into which men fall

when they do not think. Some are not good enough even to oppose the

gospel of Jesus Christ. Be hopeful of the man who will not let you speak to

him, he is one that you must approach again; and if, when he does let you

speak to him, he seems as if he would spit on you, be grateful for it. He

feels your words. You are touching him on a sore place. You will have him

yet. When he swears that he does not believe a word of what you say, do

not believe a word of what he says; for often the man who openly objects

secretly believes. Just as boys whistle when they go through a churchyard

in order to keep their courage up, so many a blasphemer is profane in order

to silence his conscience. When he feels the hook, like the fish, the man

will drag away from it. Give him line. Let him go. The hook will hold, and

in due time you will have him. Do not despair. Do not think it a horrible

thing that he should oppose you; you should rather be grateful for it, and

go to God and cry that he will give you that soul for your hire. Begin

courageously where you may expect opposition.

And, lastly, to come to the meaning which Mr John Bunyan has put upon

the text in his famous book called "The Jerusalem Sinner Saved," I have no

doubt that the Saviour bade them begin at Jerusalem, because the biggest

sinners lived there. There they lived who had crucified him. The loving

Jesus bids them preach repentance and remission to them. There he lived

who had pierced the Saviour's side, and they that had plaited the crown of

thorns, and put it on his head. There dwell those who had mocked him and

spat upon him; therefore the loving Jesus, who so freely forgives, says, "Go

and preach the gospel first to them." The greatest sinners are the objects of

the greatest mercy. Preach first to them. Are there any such here? My dear

friend, we must preach the gospel first to you because you want it most.

You are dying; your wounds are bleeding; the heavenly surgeon bids us

staunch your wounds first. Others who are not so badly hurt may wait

awhile, but you must be first served lest you die of your injuries. Should not

this encourage you great sinners to come to Jesus, when he bids us preach

to you first?

We are to preach to you first because, when you have received him, you

will praise him most. If you are saved you will encourage others to come,

and you will cheer up those who have come already. We shall be glad to

get fresh blood poured into the veins of the church by the conversion of big

sinners who love much because they have had much forgiven. Therefore,

we are to come to you first. Will you not come to Christ at once? Oh, that

you would believe in him! Oh that you would believe in him to-night! To

you is the word of this salvation sent. You old sinners--you that have added

sin to sin, and done all you can do with both hands wickedly--you that have

cursed his name--you that have robbed others--you that have told lies--you

that have blackened yourselves with every crime, come and welcome to

Jesus. Come to Christ and live at once. Mercy's door is set wide open on

purpose that the vilest of the vile may come; and they are called to come

first. Just as you are, come along with you. Tarry not to cleanse or mend,

but now "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." This

night if you believe in Jesus you shall go out of these doors rejoicing that

the Lord has put away your sin. To believe is to trust--simply to trust in

Christ. It seems a very simple thing, but that is why it is so hard. If it

were a hard thing you would more readily attend to it; but being so easy

you cannot believe that it is effectual. But it is so; faith does save.

Christ wants nothing of you but that you accept what he freely presents to

you. Put out an empty hand, a black hand, a trembling hand; accept what

Jesus gives, and salvation is yours.

Thus have I tried to expound "Beginning at Jerusalem," O that my Lord

would begin with you. Amen.

---

Christ's First and Last Subject

August 19th, 1860

by

C. H. SPURGEON

(1834-1892)

"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say,

Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at

hand"-Matthew 4:17 .

"And that repentance and remission of sins should

be preached in his name among all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem"- Luke 24:47 .

It seems from these two texts that repentance was the

first subject upon which the Redeemer dwelt, and that

it was the last, which, with his departing breath, he

commended to the earnestness of his disciples. He

begins his mission crying, "Repent," he ends it by

saying to his successors the apostles, "Preach

repentance and remission of sins among all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem." This seems to me to be a very

interesting fact, and not simply interesting, but

instructive. Jesus Christ opens his commission by

preaching repentance. What then? Did he not by this act

teach us how important repentance was-so important that

the very first time he opens his mouth, he shall begin

with, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Did he not feel that repentance was necessary to be

preached before he preached faith in himself, because

the soul must first repent of sin before it will seek a

Saviour, or even care to know whether there is a

Saviour at all? And did he not also indicate to us that

as repentance was the opening lesson of the divine

teaching, so, if we would be his disciples, we must

begin by sitting on the stool of repentance, before we

can possibly go upward to the higher forms of faith and

of full assurance? Jesus at the first begins with

repentance,-that repentance may be the Alpha, the first

letter of the spiritual alphabet which all believers

must learn; and when he concluded his divine commission

with repentance, what did he say to us but this-that

repentance was still of the very last importance? He

preaches it with his first, he will utter it with his

last breath; with this he begins, with this he will

conclude. He knew that repentance was, to spiritual

life, a sort of Alpha and Omega-it was the duty of the

beginning, it was the duty of the end. He seemed to say

to us, "Repentance, which I preached to you three years

ago, when I first came into the world, as a public

teacher, is as binding, as necessary for you who heard

me then, and who then obeyed my voice, as it was at the

very first instant, and it is equally needful that you

who have been with me from the beginning, should not

imagine that the theme is exhausted and out of date;

you too must begin your ministry and conclude it with

the same exhortation, 'Repent and be converted, for the

kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" It seems to me that

nothing could set forth Jesus Christ's idea of the high

value of repentance, more fully and effectually than

the fact that he begins with it, and that he concludes

with it-that he should say, "Repent," as the key-note

of his ministry, preaching this duty before he fully

develops all the mystery of godliness, and that he

should close his life-song as a good composer must,

with his first key-note, bidding his disciples still

cry, "Repentance and remission of sins are preached in

Jesus' name." I feel then that I need no further

apology for introducing to your solemn and serious

attention, the subject of saving repentance. And oh!

while we are talking of it, may God the Holy Ghost

breathe into all our spirits, and may we now repent

before him, and now find those blessings which he hath

promised to the penitent.

With regard to repentance, these four things:-first,

its origin; secondly, its essentials; thirdly, its

companions; and fourthly, its excellencies.

I. Repentance-ITS ORIGIN.

When we cry, "Repent and be converted," there are some

foolish men who call us legal. Now we beg to state, at

the opening of this first point, that repentance is of

gospel parentage. It was not born near Mount Sinai. It

never was brought forth anywhere but upon Mount Zion.

Of course, repentance is a duty-a natural duty-because,

when man hath sinned, who is there brazen enough to say

that it is not man's bounden duty to repent of having

done so? It is a duty which even nature itself would

teach. But gospel repentance was never yet produced as

a matter of duty. It was never brought forth in the

soul by demands of law, nor indeed can the law, except

as the instrument in the hand of grace, even assist the

soul towards saving repentance. It is a remarkable fact

that the law itself makes no provision for repentance.

It says, "This do, and thou shalt live; break my

command, and thou shalt die." There is nothing said

about penitence; there is no offer of pardon made to

those that repent. The law pronounces its deadly curse

upon the man that sins but once, but it offers no way

of escape, no door by which the man may be restored to

favour. The barren sides of Sinai have no soil in which

to nourish the lovely plant of penitence. Upon Sinai

the dew of mercy never fell. Its lightnings and its

thunders have frightened away the angel of Mercy once

for all, and there Justice sits, with sword of flame,

upon its majestic throne of rugged rock, never

purposing for a moment to put up its sword into the

scabbard, and to forgive the offender. Read attentively

the twentieth chapter of Exodus. You have the

commandments there all thundered forth with trumpet

voice, but there is no pause between where Mercy with

her silver voice may step in and say, "But if ye break

this law, God will have mercy upon you, and will shew

himself gracious if ye repent." No words of repentance,

I say, were ever proclaimed by the law; no promise by

it made to penitents; and no assistance is by the law

ever offered to those who desire to be forgiven.

Repentance is a gospel grace. Christ preached it, but

not Moses. Moses neither can nor will assist a soul to

repent, only Jesus can use the law as a means of

conviction and an argument for repentance. Jesus gives

pardon to those who seek it with weeping and with

tears; but Moses knows of no such thing. If repentance

is ever obtained by the poor sinner, it must be found

at the foot of the cross, and not where the ten

commandments lie shivered at Sinai's base.

And as repentance is of gospel parentage, I make a

second remark, it is also of gracious origin.

Repentance was never yet produced in any man's heart

apart from the grace of God. As soon may you expect the

leopard to regret the blood with which its fangs are

moistened,-as soon might you expect the lion of the

wood to abjure his cruel tyranny over the feeble beasts

of the plain, as expect the sinner to make any

confession, or offer any repentance that shall be

accepted of God, unless grace shall first renew the

heart. Go and loose the bands of everlasting winter in

the frozen north with your own feeble breath, and then

hope to make tears of penitence bedew the cheek of the

hardened sinner. Go ye and divide the earth, and pierce

its bowels with an infant's finger, and then hope that

your eloquent appeal, unassisted by divine grace, shall

be able to penetrate the adamantine heart of man. Man

can sin, and he can continue in it, but to leave the

hateful element is a work for which he needs a power

divine. As the river rushes downward with increasing

fury, leaping from crag to crag in ponderous cataracts

of power, so is the sinner in his sin; onward and

downward, onward, yet more swiftly, more mightily, more

irresistibly, in his hellish course. Nothing but divine

grace can bid that cataract leap upward, or make the

floods retrace the pathway which they have worn for

themselves down the rocks. Nothing, I say, but the

power which made the world, and digged the foundations

of the great deep, can ever make the heart of man a

fountain of life from which the floods of repentance

may gush forth. So then, soul, if thou shalt ever

repent, it must be a repentance, not of nature, but of

grace. Nature can imitate repentance; it can produce

remorse; it can generate the feeble resolve; it can

even lead to a partial, practical reform; but unaided

nature cannot touch the vitals and new-create the soul.

Nature may make the eyes weep, but it cannot make the

heart bleed. Nature can bid you amend your ways, but it

cannot renew your heart. No, you must look upward,

sinner; you must look upward to him who is able to save

unto the uttermost. You must at his hands receive the

meek and tender spirit; from his finger must come the

touch that shall dissolve the rock; and from his eye

must dart the flash of love and light that can scatter

the darkness of your impenitence. Remember, then, at

the outset, that true repentance is of gospel origin,

and is not the work of the law; and on the other hand,

it is of gracious origin, and is not the work of the

creature.

II. But to pass forward from this first point to our

second head, let us notice the ESSENTIALS of true

repentance. The old divines adopted various methods of

explaining penitence. Some of them said it was a

precious medicine, compounded of six things; but in

looking over their divisions, I have felt that I might

with equal success divide repentance into four

different ingredients. This precious box of ointment

which must be broken over the Saviour's heard before

the sweet perfume of peace can ever be smelt in the

soul-this precious ointment is compounded of four most

rare, most costly things. God give them to us and then

give us the compound itself mixed by the Master's hand.

True repentance consists of illumination, humiliation,

detestation, and transformation.

To take them one by one. The first part of true

repentance consists of illumination. Man by nature is

impenitent, because he does not know himself to be

guilty. There are many acts which he commits in which

he sees no sin, and even in great and egregious faults,

he often knows that he is not right, but he does not

perceive the depth, the horrible enormity of the sin

which is involved in them. Eye-salve is one of the

first medicines which the Lord uses with the soul.

Jesus touches the eye of the understanding, and the man

becomes guilty in his own sight, as he always was

guilty in the sight of God. Crimes long forgotten start

up from the grave where his forgetfulness had buried

them; sins, which he thought were no sins, suddenly

rise up on their true character, and acts, which he

thought were perfect, now discover themselves to have

been so mixed with evil motive that they were far from

being acceptable with God. The eye is no more blind,

and therefore the heart is no more proud, for the

seeing eye will make a humble heart. If I must paint a

picture of penitence in this first stage, I should

portray a man with his eyes bandaged walking through a

path infested with the most venomous vipers; vipers

which have formed a horrible girdle about his loins,

and are hanging like bracelets from his wrists. The man

is so blind that he knows not where he is, nor what it

is which he fancies to be a jewelled belt upon his arm.

I would then in the picture touch his eyes and bid you

see his horror, and his astonishment, when he discovers

where he is and what he is. He looks behind him, and he

sees through what broods of vipers he has walked; he

looks before him, and he sees how thickly his future

path is strewed with these venomous beasts. He looks

about him, and in his living bosom looking out from his

guilty heart, he sees the head of a vile serpent, which

has twisted its coils into his very vitals. I would

try, if I could, to throw into that face, horror,

dismay, dread, and sorrow, a longing to escape, an

anxious desire to get rid of all these things which

must destroy him unless he should escape from them. And

now, my dear hearers, have you ever been the subject of

this divine illumination? Has God, who said to an

unformed world, "Let there be light," has he said, "Let

there be light" in your poor benighted soul? Have you

learned that your best deeds have been vile, and that

as for your sinful acts they are ten thousand times

more wicked than ever you believed them to be? I will

not believe that you have ever repented unless you have

first received divine illumination. I cannot expect a

blind eye to see the filth upon a black hand, nor can I

ever believe that the understanding which has never

been enlightened can detect the sin which has stained

your daily life.

Next to illumination, comes humiliation. The soul

having seen itself, bows before God, strips itself of

all its vain boasting, and lays itself flat on its face

before the throne of mercy. It could talk proudly once

of merit, but now it dares not pronounce the word. Once

it could boast itself before God, with "God, I thank

thee that I am not as other men are"; but now it stands

in the distance, and smites upon its breast, crying,

"God be merciful to me a sinner." Now the haughty eye,

the proud look, which God abhorreth, are cast away, and

the eye, instead thereof, becomes a channel of

tears-its floods are perpetual, it mourneth, it

weepeth, and the soul crieth out both day and night

before God, for it is vexed with itself, because it has

vexed the Holy Spirit, and is grieved within itself

because it hath grieved the Most High. Here if I had to

depict penitence, I should borrow the picture of the

men of Calais before our conquering king. There they

kneel, with ropes about their necks, clad in garments

of sackcloth, and ashes cast about their heads,

confessing that they deserve to die; but stretching out

their hands they implore mercy; and one who seems the

personification of the angel of mercy-or rather, of

Christ Jesus, the God of mercy-stands pleading with the

king to spare their lives. Sinner, thou hast never

repented unless that rope has been about thy neck after

a spiritual fashion, if thou hast not felt that hell is

thy just desert, and that if God banish thee for ever

from himself, to the place where hope and peace can

never come, he has only done with thee what thou hast

richly earned. If thou hast not felt that the flames of

hell are the ripe harvest which thy sins have sown,

thou hast never yet repented at all. We must

acknowledge the justice of the penalty as well as the

guilt of the sin, or else it is but a mock repentance

which we pretend to possess. Down on thy face, sinner,

down on thy face; put away thine ornaments from thee,

that he may know what to do with thee. No more anoint

thine head and wash thy face, but fast and bow thy head

and mourn. Thou hast made heaven mourn, thou hast made

earth sad, thou hast digged hell for thyself. Confess

thine iniquity with shame, and with confusion of face;

bow down before the God of mercy and acknowledge that

if he spare thee it will be his free mercy that shall

do it; but if he destroy thee, thou shalt not have one

word to say against the justice of the solemn sentence.

Such a stripping does the Holy Spirit give, when he

works this repentance, that men sometimes under it sink

so low as even to long for death in order to escape

from the burden which soul-humiliation has cast upon

them. I do not desire that you should have that terror,

but I do pray that you may have no boasting left, that

you may stop your mouth and feel that if now the

judgment hour were set, and the judgment day were come,

you must stand speechless, even though God should say,

"Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire in hell."

Without this I say there is no genuine evangelical

repentance.

The third ingredient is detestation. The soul must go a

step further than mere sorrow; it must come to hate

sin, to hate the very shadow of it, to hate the house

where once sin and it were boon companions, to hate the

bed of pleasure and all its glittering tapestries, yea,

to hate the very garments spotted with the flesh. There

is no repentance where a man can talk lightly of sin,

much less where he can speak tenderly and lovingly of

it. When sin cometh to thee delicately, like Agag,

saying, "Surely the bitterness of death is past," if

thou hast true repentance it will rise like Samuel and

hew thy Agag in pieces before the Lord. As long as thou

harbourest one idol in thy heart, God will never dwell

there. Thou must break not only the images of wood and

of stone, but of silver and of gold; yea, the golden

calf itself, which has been thy chief idolatry, must be

ground in powder and mingled in the bitter water of

penitence, and thou must be made to drink thereof.

There is such a loathing of sin in the soul of the true

penitent that he cannot bear its name. If you were to

compel him to enter its palaces he would be wretched. A

penitent cannot bear himself in the house of the

profane. He feels as if the house must fall upon him.

In the assembly of the wicked he would be like a dove

in the midst of ravenous kites. As well may the sheep

lick blood with the wolf, as well may the dove be

comrade at the vulture's feast of carrion, as a

penitent sinner revel in sin. Through infirmity he may

slide into it, but through grace he will rise out of it

and abhor even his clothes in which he has fallen into

the ditch (Job 9:31 ). The sinner unrepentant, like the

sow, wallows in the mire; but the penitent sinner, like

the swallow, may sometimes dip his wings in the limpid

pool of iniquity, but he is aloft again, twittering

forth with the chattering of the swallow most pitiful

words of penitence, for he grieves that he should have

so debased himself and sinned against his God. My

hearer, if thou dost not so hate thy sins as to be

ready to give them all up-if thou art not willing now

to hang them on Haman's gallows a hundred and twenty

cubits high-if thou canst not shake them off from thee

as Paul did the viper from his hand, and shake it into

the fire with detestation, then, I say, thou knowest

not the grace of God in truth; for if thou lovest sin

thou lovest neither God nor thyself, but thou choosest

thine own damnation. Thou art in friendship with death

and in league with hell; God deliver thee from this

wretched state of heart, and bring thee to detest thy

sin.

There lacks one more ingredient yet. We have had

illumination, humiliation, and detestation. There must

be another thing, namely, a thorough transformation,

for-

"Repentance is to leave

The sins we loved before,

And show that we in earnest grieve

By doing so no more."

The penitent man reforms his outward life. The reform

is not partial, but in heart, it is universal and

complete. Infirmity may mar it, but grace will always

be striving against human infirmity, and the man will

hate and abandon every false way. Tell me not,

deceptive tradesman, that you have repented of your sin

while lying placards are still upon your goods. Tell me

not, thou who wast once a drunkard, that thou hast

turned to God while yet the cup is dear to thee, and

thou canst still wallow in it by excess. Come not to me

and say I have repented, thou avaricious wretch, whilst

thou art yet grinding thine almost cent, per cent, out

of some helpless tradesman whom thou hast taken like a

spider in thy net. Come not to me and say thou are

forgiven, when thou still harboureth revenge and malice

against thy brother, and speaketh against thine own

mother's son. Thou liest to thine own confusion. Thy

face is as the whore's forehead that is brazen, if thou

darest to say "I have repented," when thine arms are up

to the elbow in the filth of thine iniquity. Nay, man,

God will not forgive your lusts while you are still

revelling in the bed of your uncleanness. And do you

imagine he will forgive your drunken feasts while you

are still sitting at the glutton's table! Shall he

forgive your profanity when your tongue is still

quivering with an oath? Think you that God shall

forgive your daily transgressions when you repeat them

again, and again, and again, wilfully plunging into the

mire? He will wash thee, man, but he will not wash thee

for the sake of permitting thee to plunge in again and

defile thyself once more. "Well," do I hear you say, "I

do feel that such a change as that has taken place in

me." I am glad to hear it, my dear sir; but I must ask

you a further question. Divine transformation is not

merely in act but in the very soul; the new man not

only does not sin as he used to do, but he does not

want to sin as he used to do. The flesh-pots of Egypt

sometimes send up a sweet smell in his nostrils, and

when he passes by another man's house, where the leek,

and garlic, and onion are steaming in the air, he half

wishes to go back again to his Egyptian bondage, but in

a moment he checks himself, saying, "No, no; the

heavenly manna is better than this; the water out of

the rock is sweeter than the waters of the Nile, and I

cannot return to my old slavery under my old tyrant."

There may be insinuations of Satan, but his soul

rejects them, and agonizes to cast them out. His very

heart longs to be free from every sin, and if he could

be perfect he would. There is not one sin he would

spare. If you want to give him pleasure, you need not

ask him to go to your haunt of debauchery; it would be

the greatest pain to him you could imagine. It is not

only his customs and manners, but his nature that is

changed. You have not put new leaves on the tree, but

there is a new root to it. It is not merely new

branches, but there is a new trunk altogether, and new

sap, and there will be new fruit as the result of this

newness. A glorious transformation is wrought by a

gracious God. His penitence has become so real and so

complete that the man is not the man he used to be. He

is a new creature in Christ Jesus. If you are renewed

by grace, and were to meet your old self, I am sure you

would be very anxious to get out of his company. "No,"

say you, "no, sir, I cannot accompany you." "Why, you

used to swear"! "I cannot now." "Well, but," says he,

"you and I are very near companions." "Yes, I know we

are, and I wish we were not. You are a deal of trouble

to me every day. I wish I could be rid of you for

ever." "But," says Old Self, "you used to drink very

well." "Yes, I know it. I know thou didst, indeed, Old

Self. Thou couldst sing a song as merrily as any one.

Thou wast ringleader in all sorts of vice, but I am no

relation of thine now. Thou art of the old Adam, and I

of the new Adam. Thou art of thine old father, the

devil; but I have another-my Father, who is in heaven."

I tell you, brethren, there is no man in the world you

will hate so much as your old self, and there will be

nothing you will so much long to get rid of as that old

man who once was dragging you down to hell, and who

will try his hand at it over and over again every day

you live, and who will accomplish it yet, unless that

divine grace which has made you a new man shall keep

you a new man even to the end.

Good Rowland Hill, in his "Village Dialogues," gives

the Christian, whom he describes in the first part of

the book, the name of Thomas Newman. Ah! and everyman

who goes to heaven must have the name of new-man. We

must not expect to enter there unless we are created

anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath

before ordained that we should walk in them. I have

thus, as best I could, feeling many and very sad

distractions in my own mind, endeavored to explain the

essentials of true repentance-illumination,

humiliation, detestation, transformation. The endings

of the words, though they are long words may commend

them to your attention and assist you to retain them.

III. And now, with all brevity, let me notice, in the

third place, the COMPANIONS of true repentance.

Her first companion is faith. There was a question once

asked by the old Puritan divines-Which was first in the

soul, Faith or Repentance? Some said that a man could

not truly repent of sin until he believed in God, and

had some sense of a Saviour's love. Others said a man

could not have faith till he had repented of sin; for

he must hate sin before he could trust Christ. So a

good old minister who was present made the following

remark: "Brethren," said he, "I don't think you can

ever settle this question. It would be something like

asking whether, when an infant is born, the circulation

of the blood, or the beating of the pulse can be first

observed"? Said he, "It seems to me that faith and

repentance are simultaneous. They come at the same

moment. There could be no true repentance without

faith. There never was yet true faith without sincere

repentance." We endorse that opinion. I believe they

are like the Siamese twins; they are born together, and

they could not live asunder, but must die if you

attempt to separate them. Faith always walks side by

side with his weeping sister, true Repentance. They are

born in the same house at the same hour, and they will

live in the same heart every day, and on your dying

bed, while you will have faith on the one hand to draw

the curtain of the next world, you will have

repentance, with its tears, as it lets fall the curtain

upon the world from which you are departing. You will

have at the last moment to weep over your own sins, and

yet you shall see through that tear the place where

tears are washed away. Some say there is no faith in

heaven. Perhaps there is not. If there be none, then

there will be no repentance, but if there be faith

there will be repentance, for where faith lives,

repentance must live with it. They are so united, so

married and allied together, that they never can be

parted, in time or in eternity. Hast thou, then, faith

in Jesus? Does thy soul look up and trust thyself in

his hands? If so, then hast thou the repentance that

needeth not to be repented of.

There is another sweet thing which always goes with

repentance, just as Aaron went with Moses, to be

spokesman for him, for you must know that Moses was

slow of speech, and so is repentance. Repentance has

fine eyes, but stammering lips. In fact, it usually

happens that repentance speaks through her eyes and

cannot speak with her lips at all, except her

friend-who is a good spokesman-is near; he is called,

Mr. Confession. This man is noted for his open

breastedness. He knows something of himself, and he

tells all that he knows before the throne of God.

Confession keeps back no secrets. Repentance sighs over

the sin-confession tells it out. Repentance feels the

sin to be heavy within-confession plucks it forth and

indicts it before the throne of God. Repentance is the

soul in travail-confession delivers it. My heart is

ready to burst, and there is a fire in my bones through

repentance-confession gives the heavenly fire a vent,

and my soul flames upward before God. Repentance,

alone, hath groanings which cannot be

uttered-confession is the voice which expresses the

groans. Now then, hast thou made confession of thy

sin-not to man, but to God? If thou hast, then believe

that thy repentance cometh from him, and it is a godly

sorrow that needeth not to be repented of.

Holiness is evermore the bosom friend of penitence.

Fair angel, clad in pure white linen, she loves good

company and will never stay in a heart where repentance

is a stranger. Repentance must dig the foundations, but

holiness shall erect the structure, and bring forth the

top-stone. Repentance is the clearing away of the

rubbish of the past temple of sin; holiness builds the

new temple which the Lord our God shall inherit.

Repentance and desires after holiness never can be

separated.

Yet once more-wherever repentance is, there cometh also

with it, peace. As Jesus walked upon the waters of

Galilee, and said, "Peace, be still," so peace walks

over the waters of repentance, and brings quiet and

calm into the soul. If thou wouldst shake the thirst of

thy soul, repentance must be the cup out of which thou

shalt drink, and then sweet peace shall be the blessed

effect. Sin is such a troublesome companion that it

will always give thee the heartache till thou hast

turned it out by repentance, and then thy heart shall

rest and be still. Sin is the rough wind that tears

through the forest, and sways every branch of the trees

to and fro; but after penitence hath come into the soul

the wind is hushed, and all is still, and the birds

sing in the branches of the trees which just now

creaked in the storm. Sweet peace repentance ever

yields to the man who is the possessor of it. And now

what sayest thou my hearer-to put each point personally

to thee-hast thou had peace with God? If not, never

rest till thou hast had it, and never believe thyself

to be saved till thou feelest thyself to be reconciled.

Be not content with the mere profession of the head,

but ask that the peace of God which passeth all

understanding, may keep your hearts and minds through

Jesus Christ.

IV. And now I come to my fourth and last point, namely,

the EXCELLENCIES of repentance.

I shall somewhat surprise you, perhaps, if I say that

one of the excellencies of repentance lies in its

pleasantness. "Oh"! you say, "but it is bitter"! Nay,

say I, it is sweet. At least, it is bitter when it is

alone, like the waters of Marah; but there is a tree

called the cross, which if thou canst put into it, it

will be sweet, and thou wilt love to drink of it. At a

school of mutes who were both deaf and dumb, the

teacher put the following question to her pupils:-"What

is the sweetest emotion"? As soon as the children

comprehended the question, they took their slates and

wrote their answers. One girl in a moment wrote down

"Joy." As soon as the teacher saw it, she expected that

all would write the same, but another girl, more

thoughtful, put her hand to her brow, and she wrote

"Hope." Verily, the girl was not far from the mark. But

the next one, when she brought up her slate, had

written "Gratitude," and this child was not wrong.

Another one, when she brought up her slate, had written

"Love," and I am sure she was right. But there was one

other who had written in large characters,-and as she

brought up her slate the tear was in her eye, showing

she had written what she felt,-"Repentance is the

sweetest emotion." And I think she was right. Verily,

in my own case, after that long drought, perhaps longer

than Elisha's three years in which the heavens poured

forth no rain, when I saw but one tear of penitence

coming from my hard, hard soul-it was such a joy! There

have been times when you know you have done wrong, but

when you could cry over it you have felt happy. As one

weeps for his firstborn, so have you wept over your

sin, and in that very weeping you have had your peace

and your joy restored. I am a living witness that

repentance is exceeding sweet when mixed with divine

hope, but repentance without hope is hell. It is hell

to grieve for sin with the pangs of bitter remorse, and

yet to know that pardon can never come, and mercy never

be vouchsafed. Repentance, with the cross before its

eyes, is heaven itself; at least, if not heaven, it is

so next door to it, that standing on the wet threshold

I may see within the pearly portals, and sing the song

of the angels who rejoice within. Repentance, then, has

this excellency, that it is very sweet to the soul

which is made to lie beneath its shadow.

Besides this excellency, it is specially sweet to God

as well as to men. "A broken and a contrite heart, O

God, thou wilt not despise." When St. Augustine lay a-

dying, he had this verse always fixed upon the

curtains, so that as often as he awoke, he might read

it-"A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not

despise." When you despise yourselves, God honours you;

but as long as you honour yourselves, God despises you.

A whole heart is a scentless thing; but when it is

broken and bruised, it is like that precious spice

which was burned as holy incense in the ancient

tabernacle. When the blood of Jesus is sprinkled on

them, even the songs of the angels, and the vials full

of odours sweet that smoke before the throne of the

Most High, are not more agreeable to God than the

sighs, and groans, and tears of the brokenhearted soul.

So, then, if thou wouldest be pleasing with God, come

before him with many and many a tear:

"To humble souls and broken hearts

God with his grace is ever nigh;

Pardon and hope his love imparts,

When men in deep contrition lie.

He tells their tears, he counts their groans,

His Son redeems their souls from death;

His Spirit heals their broken bones,

They in his praise employ their breath."

John Bunyan, in his "Siege of Mansoul," when the

defeated townsmen were seeking pardon, names Mr. Wet-

eyes as the intercessor with the king. Mr. Wet-

eyes-good Saxon word! I hope we know Mr. Wet-eyes, and

have had him many times in our house, for if he cannot

intercede with God, yet Mr. Wet-eyes is a great friend

with the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ will undertake

his case, and then we shall prevail. So have I set

forth, then, some, but very few, of the excellencies of

repentance. And now, my dear hearers, have you repented

of Sin? Oh, impenitent soul, if thou dost not weep now,

thou wilt have to weep for ever. The heart that is not

broken now, must be broken for ever upon the wheel of

divine vengeance. Thou must now repent, or else for

ever smart for it. Turn or burn-it is the Bible's only

alternative. If thou repentest, the gate of mercy

stands wide open. Only the Spirit of God bring thee on

thy knees in self-abasement, for Christ's cross stands

before thee, and he who bled upon it bids thee look at

him. Oh, sinner, obey the divine bidding. But, if your

heart be hard, like that of the stubborn Jews in the

days of Moses, take heed, lest,-

"The Lord in vengeance dressed,

Shall lift his head and swear,-

You that despised my promised rest,

Shall have no portion there."

At any rate, sinner, if thou wilt not repent, there is

one here who will, and that is myself. I repent that I

could not preach to you with more earnestness this

morning, and throw my whole soul more thoroughly into

my pleading with you. the Lord God, whom I serve, is my

constant witness that there is nothing I desire so much

as to see your hearts broken on account of sin; and

nothing has gladdened my heart so much as the many

instances lately vouchsafed of the wonders God is doing

in this place. There have been men who have stepped

into this Hall, who had never entered a place of

worship for a score years, and here the Lord has met

with them, and I believe, if I could speak the word,

there are hundreds who would stand up now, and say,

"'Twas here the Lord met with me. I was the chief of

sinners; the hammer struck my heart and broke it, and

now it has been bound up again by the finger of divine

mercy, and I tell it unto sinners, and tell it to this

assembled congregation, there have been depths of mercy

found that have been deeper than the depths of my

iniquity." This day there will be a soul delivered;

this morning there will be, I do not doubt, despite my

weakness, a display of the energy of God, and the power

of the Spirit; some drunkard shall be turned from the

error of his ways; some soul, who was trembling on the

very jaws of hell, shall look to him who is the

sinner's hope, and find peace and pardon-ay, at this

very hour. So be it, O Lord, and thine shall be the

glory, world without end.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

The last chapter gave in the judgment of present things, another world and eternal things in good and evil, the Lord's instruction for the disciples after the dealings of grace in Luke 15:1-32, and this as the only true power of estimating the present world (that is to say, by the standard of the future the eternal future of God. In order to complete that picture, our Lord gave a sight not only of one blessed man who had lived in what is eternal, while experiencing the bitterness of this evil age, but of another who lived only for the present, despising God's message about eternity.

In Luke 17:1-37 there follow further lessons communicated still to the disciples; and first of all, a solemn warning as to stumbling-blocks. It is possible that offences will come; but woe to him through whom they come! Next, while there is a strong exhortation against stumbling others, there is an equally urgent call to forgive others. We are to be firm against ourselves; we are to be firm for our brethren, even where they touch ourselves. Therefore the apostles, feeling the great difficulty, as indeed it is impossible to nature so to walk, ask of the Lord to increase their faith. The Lord intimates in reply that faith grows, and even in the presence of difficulty. It seeks what belongs not to nature, but to God. On the other hand, in the midst of any answers that God may vouchsafe, and of all service rendered to Him, the admonitory word is added that when we have done all things not when we have failed we are unprofitable servants. Such is the true language and feeling for a disciple's heart. This closes the direct teaching here addressed to His followers (Verses Luke 17:1-10.)

Our Lord is next (ver. Luke 17:11-19) presented in a very characteristic way, showing that faith does not necessarily wait for a change of dispensation. He had been laying, down the duty of faith in many various forms in the early verses of this chapter. It is here shown that faith always finds its place of blessing with God and proves Him superior to forms; but God is only found in Jesus.

In the ten lepers this blessed principle is brought out clearly. The healing of the Lord was equally manifest in all; but there is a power superior to that which cleanses the body, even were it desperately leprous. The power that belongs to and comes out from God is but a small thing, in comparison with the knowledge of God Himself. This alone brings to God in spirit (as it did really by the cross of Christ). Observe, that he who exemplifies this action of divine grace was one that knew not traditional religion as the others did, that had no great privileges to boast of in comparison with the rest. It was the Samaritan in whom the Lord illustrated the power of faith. He had told the ten equally to go and show themselves to the priest; and as they went they were cleansed. One only, seeing he was cleansed, turns back, and with a loud voice glorified God. But the way in which he glorified God was not by merely ascribing the blessing to God. "He fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan."

Apparently this was disobedience; and the others could well reproach their Samaritan fellow that he was unfaithful to Jesus. But faith is always right, whatever appearances may say: I speak not now of a fancy, of course, not of any eccentric humour or delusion too often covered over with the name of faith. Real faith which God gives is never so far wrong: and he who, instead of going on to the priest, recognizes in Jesus the power and goodness of God upon earth, (the instincts of that very faith that was of God working in his heart and carrying him back to the source of the blessing,) he, I say, was the only one of the ten who was in the spirit, not only of the blessing but of Him who gave the blessing. And so our Lord Jesus vindicates him. "Were there not ten cleansed?" said the Saviour; "but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."

Faith invariably discovers the way to give glory to God. It matters not whether it be in Abraham or in a Samaritan leper, its path is entirely outside the ken of nature, yet faith does not fail to discern it; the Lord assuredly puts His seal upon it, and grace supplies all needed strength to follow.

But this was in its principle the judgment of the Jewish system. It was the power of faith leaving Judaism to itself, mounting in Jesus to the source of both law and grace, but not putting the legal system down. This was for other hands. Faith does not destroy; it has no such commission: angels will have that province another day. But faith finds its own deliverance now, leaving those who are under the law and love not grace, to the law which condemns. For itself it discovers the blessedness of freedom from the law, yet is not lawless to God, but, on the contrary, legitimately bound ( ἔννομος ) to Christ, really and duly subject to Him, and so much the more because not under law. In the present case, the cleansed Samaritan in going to Jesus was very simply under grace, in the spirit that animated his heart and formed his path, as Luke the evangelist here records.

How admirably this tale is adapted to the whole tone and character of the Gospel, I need not delay to prove. It must be plain enough, I think, even to a superficial reader, that as Luke alone gives the account, so to Luke it is most especially adapted for the purpose that the Holy Ghost had in hand in this Gospel, and also in this particular context.

We have further, in our Lord's answer to the Pharisees, who demanded when the kingdom of God should come, a striking revelation, and most suitable to Luke's purpose. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." It is not a question of signs, wonders, or outward show. It is not that God did not accompany His message with signs. But the kingdom of God, revealed in the person of Christ, went deeper appeals to faith (not sight), and demands the Holy Ghost's action in the soul to give the sinner to see and enter it. Here it is not a question exactly of entering or seeing, as inJohn 3:1-36; John 3:1-36, but rather the moral character of the entrance of God's kingdom among men. It does not address itself to the senses or the mere mind of man; it carries its own evidence with it to the conscience and the heart. As being the kingdom of God, it is impossible that His kingdom should come, without adequate testimony in love to man, who is sought for it. At the same time man, having a bad conscience and a depraved heart, slights God's word as well as kingdom, and looks for that which would please himself by gratifying his feelings, mind, or even lower nature. Our Lord, however, first of all lays down this great principle: it is no question of a "lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom was actually there; for He, God's King was there. Then, after settling this moral truth which was fundamental for the soul, He turns to His disciples, and tells them that the days would come when they should desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and should not see it; for the kingdom will be displayed by and by. "When they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under. heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation." This is the necessary moral order of God. Jesus must first suffer; so "the sufferings of Christ," as Peter said afterwards, "and the glories that should follow." Such is the invariable method of God in dealing with a sinful world, where He brings in, not a test of man, but the effectual work of His own grace. But this presentation to faith now, as we have seen does not hinder the Lord from speaking of another day, when the kingdom of God would be manifest. Before that day of His appearing there might be a premature "Lo here! or, lo there!" The godly must not follow men's cries, but count on the Lord. He compares it to the days of Noe (that is, to the day of God's past judgment of man and his ways); then to the days of Lot.

First of all, then, we have, for the disciples, God's ways in grace, in the Son of man that first suffers, and finally will appear in power and glory. As for the world, careless indifference and enjoyment of present things will characterise the future as the past; but they will be surprised by the Lord in the midst of heedless folly. To this the Lord appends a peculiar, but not less solemn though brief word: "Remember Lot's wife! "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it." Apparently the wife of Lot was rescued by angelic power; she was certainly brought out of the doomed city; but it was only the more strikingly to be the monument of God's all-searching judgment. There she stands alone. The others perished; but she abode a pillar of salt, when Moses wrote the (morally speaking) imperishable memorial of God's hatred of a false heart, which, spite of outward deliverance, gave its affections still to a scene devoted to destruction. And so our Lord adds here what touched, not merely the Jewish system, but the condition and doom of the world at large. He lets us know that in that night two should be in one bed; one taken, and the other left. So two women at the mill; for here we have not to do with human judgments. God will then judge the quick; and so, no matter what the association, the employment, or the sex, whether within doors or without, there can be no shelter or exemption. Two might be ever so closely knit together, but God would discriminate according to the nicety of His own discernment of their state: one should be taken, and the other left. "And they answered, and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body. is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." Wherever there is that which is dead, and consequently offensive morally unto God, there unquestionably will His judgments fall.

But along with this we have also prayer (Luke 18:1-43), not merely as suitable to a soul's need, and in connection with the word of God received from Jesus, which we have seen in Luke 11:1-54. Here it is prayer out of the midst of circumstances of desolation and deep trial prayer with evil near at hand, as well as divine judgment. Consequently its ultimate bearing is in connection with the tribulation of the last days. But, at the same time, Luke never confines his view to outward facts. Hence, it is said, "He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray." It is the more striking, because the circumstances are evidently limited; while that which He draws from them is universal. The Lord is exhorting to prayer, in view of the final trial; nevertheless, He prefaces it with a plain moral precept on the value. of prayer at all times "that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Certainly God will not be heedless to the continual cry of His own seemingly desolate elect in their fiery trial, where all the might of man is against them; but still the duty always remains true.

Now, it is Luke alone who thus treats the matter; the great moral value attached to prayer, at the same time connected, it may be, with general circumstances of sorrow, but bearing on the circumstances of the last day. The parable is intended to give or increase confidence in the heed God pays to the prayer of distress. Spite of indifference, an unjust judge yields to the importunity of a poor widow. If a bad man so acted, not because of his hatred of the wrong done to her that was oppressed, but to get rid of being always troubled by her cries for justice if it be so even with the unjust, would not God take up the cause of His own elect, that cried unto Him day and night? It could not but be. He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? (Verses Luke 18:1-8.)

Then follows another parable of a very different character. It is not the value of persistent prayer, and the certainty of God appearing even for the weakest, no matter how apparently deserted (indeed, so much the more, because of it in His own). We have, further, the moral condition of man illustrated in two ways a broken spirit with little light but a real sense of sin, and another soul satisfied with itself in the presence of God. "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous) and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican." Not that the Pharisee represents a man who denies God, or who is not a religious man. He is religious, but such religion is the most damning thing about him. The evil is not merely his sins, but his religion: nothing more blinding to himself and other men, nothing more dishonouring to God. On the other hand, the poor publican has neither clear light nor peace, but at least he realises the commencement of all true light he has learned enough of God to condemn himself. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." He alone of the two judged things according to his little light. He judged himself truly, and, therefore, was in a moral condition to see other things aright, as God should bring them before him. There was as yet no such privilege known as a purged worshipper having no more conscience of sins. Therefore, the convicted publican is found outside, beating his breast, and standing at a distance, not so much as looking up. It was suitable that it should be so; for Christ's work was not yet wrought, still less applied to his soul. It would have been not faith, but presumption, I do not doubt, at such a time, and under such circumstances, for him to have come nigh. All was in its season. But if God invites a believer now to draw near into the holiest of all, is it not equal presumption for that soul to quarrel with the grace of God displayed in Christ's work of redemption, and to raise questions about its effects for itself? God may, and does, bear with the wound to His own grace; and He has His way of correcting such wrong; but there is no ground in the parable to warrant what is too often founded upon it. We owe it to Christ to resent every misinterpretation which goes to undo what He has done on the cross. The publican before us was not meant to give us a full view of the Christian state, or of the blessings of the gospel, but of a man taught of God to feel his own nothingness as a sinner before Him; and God's estimate of him, in comparison with the man who was satisfied with his state. It is humility founded upon the sense of unworthiness, which is always right as far as it goes. (VersesLuke 18:9-14; Luke 18:9-14.)

Next is set forth humility, founded on our littleness (ver. Luke 18:15-17). Many a man is consciously unworthy, because he feels himself a sinner who has no just sense of his littleness in the presence of God. Our Lord here gives this further lesson to the disciples, and uses a child as the text. We shall find how much it was needed if we look into the Gospel of Luke.

Then we have the ruler, to whom our Lord shows that all was wrong where a soul is not brought to know that there is none good but God. Had he really known how good God is he would have soon seen God in Jesus. He saw nothing of the sort. He knew neither God nor good. He looked upon the Lord merely as good after a human fashion. If He was but a man there was no goodness in Him; it is only in God: God alone is good. If Jesus were not God, He was not good. The young ruler had no right, no just title to say, "Good Master", unless that master were God. This he saw not; and therefore, the Lord proves him, and searches the ground of his heart, and demonstrates that after all he valued the world more than God and eternal life. This he had never suspected in himself before. He loved his natural position; he loved to be a ruler, though a young one; he loved his possessions; he loved what he had of present advantages in the world. He really clave to all these things without knowing it himself. The Lord, therefore calls upon him to give them up, and follow Him. He thought there was no demand of goodness but what he was able to meet; but the trial was too much for him. Man was not good God only. Jesus, who was God, had given up beyond all comparison more, yea, infinitely.

What had He not given up, and for whom? He was God, and proved it not least in a self-abnegation truly divine. (Verses Luke 18:18-25.)

Then we have the hearers and disciples disclosing their thoughts. They began to claim something of credit for what they had given up. The Lord admits that there is no abandonment of faith but what will meet with a most adequate remembrance from the Lord another day.

But, at the same time (verses Luke 18:31-34), He takes unto Him the twelve and says, "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished." This is what He was looking for, whatever they were. "For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; and they shall scourge Him, and put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again; and they understood none of these things. And this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." It is an important lesson, and not the first time we find it in Luke, and, indeed, in other Gospels also. Nor can it be too often repeated, that lack of intelligence in Scripture does not depend upon the obscurity of the language, but because the will does not like the truth that is taught. This is the reason why difficulties are felt and abound. When a man is made willing to receive the truth, his eye is single and his whole body full of light. The will is the real hindrance. The mind will be clear, if the conscience and the heart be set right. Where, on the contrary, God breaks down the believer, and sets him free in the liberty wherewith the Son makes free, the conscience is purged, and the heart turned towards Himself. All then becomes right: he is brought into the light of God; he sees light in God's light. Was this the condition of the disciples as yet? Were they not still cleaving to their own cherished expectations of Messiah, and an earthly kingdom? They could not understand Him, no matter how plain the words employed. The hardness of His saying lay not in any lack of perspicuity. Never man spake as this man, His enemies themselves being judges; neither was it from any defect in their natural understanding that the disciples were thus slow. The state of the heart, as ever, was in question; the will was at fault, even though they were regenerate. It was their reluctance to receive what Jesus taught that made the difficulty; and it is the same thing still with believers, as with others.

In verse 35 we enter on the closing section of all the historical Gospels, as is well known, that is to say, the entrance into Jerusalem from Jericho. Only there is a difficulty here to some that Luke appears to contradict what we have in the other accounts of this part of Christ's progress. "It came to pass, that as he came nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging." From the other Gospels we know it was when He went out of Jericho, not when He came in. The truth is, that our English version, excellent as it is, goes a little beyond the word of Luke; for our evangelist does not say "When he was come nigh unto Jericho," but "when he was nigh." It is not necessarily a question of coming near, but simply of being in the neighbourhood. The utmost which can or ought to be allowed is, that if the context so required, it might bear the translation (a paraphrase rather) of coming nigh; but this case demands the very reverse. It is evident, whether you go into a place or whether you come out of it, you are equally nigh on one side of the town or on the other. The truth is, that Luke merely states the fact of vicinity here. Further, we know that just as Matthew, for his design, so he displaces facts historically for the purpose of giving a more forcible moral picture of the truth in hand. I have little doubt that in this case the reason for putting the blind man here rather than in leaving, the town was, that for Jericho He reserved the wonderful call of Zaccheus, with the object of bringing that tale of grace, characteristic of His first-advent, into juxtaposition with the question and parable of the kingdom, which illustrated His second advent; for immediately afterwards we have His correction of the disciples, thoughts, that the kingdom of God was immediately going to appear; because He was going up to Jerusalem. They expected that He was going to take the throne of David at once. Accordingly, Luke puts together those two features the grace that illustrates His first coming, and the real nature of the second coming of Christ, as far as regards the appearing of God's kingdom. Now, had the story of the blind man healed at Jericho been left for its historical place, it would have cut the thread of these two circumstances. There is, therefore, in this, as it appears to me, an ample and divine reason why the Spirit of God led the writer to present the cure of the blind man as we find it. But then he does not say what the English version makes him say, "As he was come nigh," but simply, "When he was nigh to Jericho," leaving it open to other Scriptures to define the time with more precision. He only states that it was while the Lord was in the neighbourhood. The other Gospels positively tell us it was as He went out. Clearly, therefore, we must interpret the general language of Luke by the exacter marks of the time and place of those who declare it was as He was going out. Nothing can be simpler. The healing of the blind man was a kind of final testimony that Messiah was there. He was coming in the way, not of the power that once overthrew Jericho, but of grace that showed and could meet the real condition of Israel. They were blind. Had they possessed the faith only to cry to Messiah about their blindness, He was therewith power and willingness to heal them. There was none but a blind man or two to own real need, but our Lord at least healed all who cried. (Verses Luke 18:35-43.)

Then, as He entered Jericho, Zaccheus, the chief of the tax-gatherers, was mightily stirred with the desire to see this wondrous man, the Son of man. Hence he lets nothing stand in the way. Neither personal deficiency, nor the crowd that was there, is allowed to hinder his intense purpose of heart to see the Lord Jesus. He therefore climbs up a sycamore tree by the way; and Jesus knowing well the desire of Zaccheus, and the faith that was at work there however feebly, at once, to his joy and astonishment, invites Himself to his house. "Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully." All fell to murmuring. It was the same tale at the end as at the beginning. "And Zaccheus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." He had been really a conscientious man. He was a man thus characterised; for it is no promise of what he is going to do, but he mentions that which was no doubt a fact about himself at that very moment. He was what men call a just and good man, yet a chief tax-gatherer and a wealthy one, though they be hard things to put together. Here was a tax-gatherer who, if through in cautiousness or any defect guilty of wrong to another, needed no pressure to restore fourfold. Such was his habit. Our Lord, however, cuts it all short. As a matter of human righteousness it was well; it was the proof that Zaccheus exercised himself as a man to have a conscience void offence in his own way. Nor is this out of keeping with the tenor of Luke's Gospel, as, indeed, it is only here that we have the story at all. Our Lord, however, shows that it was not the time to think or speak of such matters. "This day is salvation come to this house, inasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." How infinite the blessing! Was it a fitting time for speaking of himself? It was not a question of man's walking righteously, or of talking about it. In truth, man was lost; but the Son of man was there to bear his burden. This great and glorious fact superseded all others. Whatever there had been working in him at any time all was now swallowed up in the presence of the Son of man seeking and saving the lost. What can give us amore vivid, true, and blessed representation of the Lord Jesus Christ in His first coming with the grace of God that brings salvation? (Luke 19:1-10.)

Immediately after (and, if I mistake not, expressly put in close conjunction with this) is the parable of the nobleman who goes into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. They were all wrong therefore, in looking for the kingdom of God immediately to appear. Not so. Christ was going away to heaven to receive the kingdom from God there not about to take it from man now and in this world. It is evidently, therefore, a picture of the Lord's return at the second advent, after having received a kingdom. It was not a question of human willingness or power, but of receiving from God. But then, further, He shows that meanwhile His servants are called to occupy themselves till he come. He called His ten servants, and delivered to them ten pounds; and said unto them, "Occupy till I come." Then we find another picture His citizens hating Him; for nothing can be more elaborate than this parable. The Lord's relation to the kingdom at the second advent is contrasted with the grace that flows out in the former part of the chapter. This is the main subject with which the parable opens. Next, we have the place of the servants responsible to use what the Lord gives. Such is another great point shown out here. It is not, as in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord giving different gifts to different servants, which is equally true; but here it is the moral test of the servants carried out by each having the same sum. This proves yet more than in the other case how far they laboured. They started with similar advantages. What was the result? Meanwhile hatred became apparent in the citizens, who represent the unbelieving Jews settled down in the earth. "When he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded those servants to be called unto Him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy mina hath gained ten minas;" and so with the other; and then we hear of the one who says, "Lord, behold, here is thy mina, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: for I feared thee." There was no confidence in His grace. The consequence is, that, treating the Lord as a froward man, he finds Him froward. Unbelief finds its own response as truly as faith does. As "it is unto thee according to thy faith," so alas! the converse proves true. It is to man according to his unbelief.

Further, we have a remarkable difference in the rewards here. It is not, "Enter into the joy of thy Lord;" but one receives ten cities, another five, and so on. He that was fearful and unbelieving, on the contrary, has his mina taken from him. Again, then enemies are brought forward. The unfaithful servant is not called an enemy, though, no doubt, he was no friend of the Son, and dealt with righteously. But the open adversaries are called into the scene; and as the Lord here pronounces those men His enemies which would not :that He should reign over them, He says, "Bring them hither, and slay them before me." Thus the parable is a very complete sketch of the general results of the Lord's second advent for the citizens of the world, as well as of the occupation and reward of the servants who serve Him faithfully meanwhile. (Verses Luke 19:11-27.)

Next, we have the entrance into Jerusalem. We need not dwell on the scene of the riding in on the colt; but that which is peculiar to Luke claims our attention for a moment. "And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen: saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest."(Ver. 37, 38.) Thus the Spirit of God works to give them a step, and a great step, in divine intelligence beyond the song of the angels at the beginning. What they justly sang at the birth of Jesus was, "Peace on earth: good will that is, God's good will in men," ushered in by glory to God in the highest. Here we have a signal change or converse. "Glory in the highest" is the result, not the introduction; and instead of "peace on earth," (which will, no doubt, be the fruit by and by, as it is according to God's mind, the anticipation from the beginning,) the disciples meanwhile and most appropriately, sing, "Peace in heaven." It was not a question of peace on earth now. The reason was manifest: the earth was unready, was about to judge unjustly, and to be judged. Jesus was on the very point of being cast out and cut off. He was really in heart thoroughly rejected already; but He was shortly to enter on other sufferings, even to the death of the cross. The effect, then, of that which was imminent was not peace for the earth yet, but peace in heaven most assuredly; and therefore we can comprehend how the Lord guided by His Spirit the song of the disciples at the close just as much as at the beginning; that of the angels expressed the general idea of God's purposes the moral effects to spring from the death of the incarnate Son.

After this we hear the murmuring Pharisees rebuked, who would have had the disciples rebuked for their song: if they had not sung it, the stones must have cried out; and the Lord vindicates the blameless (Ver. Luke 19:39-40.)

Then follows that most touching scene, peculiar to and characteristic of Luke Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. It was not at the grave of the one He loved, though about to call from the grave. The weeping in John is in the presence of death, which had touched Lazarus. It is therefore infinitely more personal, though it be also the wondrous sight of One who, coming, with the consciousness of divine power to banish death and bring life into the scene, yet in grace nevertheless did not one whit the less, but the more, feel the power of death as no mere man ever felt, yet as none but a real man could feel. There never was any one that had such a sense of death before as Jesus, just because He was life, the energy of which, combined with perfect; love, made the power of death to be so sensible. Death does not feel death, but life did. Therefore He that was (and not merely had) life, as no one else, weeps in the presence of death, groaning, in spirit at the grave. His having power to banish death weakened His sense of it in no respect. If poor dying man felt it somewhat, the Lord made flesh, the God-man, entered into it in spirit the more because He was God, though man. But here we have another scene, His weeping over that very city that was about to cast Him out and crucify Him. Oh it is a truth for us to treasure in our hearts His weeping in divine grace over guilty Jerusalem, forsaking its own mercies, rejecting its own Saviour the Lord God. Its desolation He predicts, and destruction, because the time of its visitation was unknown. (Verses Luke 19:41-44.) His visit to the temple and its cleansing are mentioned summarily; as also His teaching there daily the chiefs of priest and people, With their desire to destroy Him but hardly knowing how, for all the people hung on Him to hear. In Luke 20:1-47 we have the various classes of religionists and worldly men trooping one after another, hoping somehow to ensnare or accuse the Lord of glory. Each of them falls into the trap which they had made for Him. Accordingly they do but discover and condemn themselves. We have the priests with their question of authority (ver. Luke 20:1-8), then the people hearing the history of God's dealings with them, and their moral condition fully brought out. (Verses Luke 20:9-19.) We have further the crafty spies, hired by the chief priests and scribes, that feigned themselves just, and thought to take hold of His words, and embroil Him with the earthly powers. (Verses Luke 20:20-26.)

We have, after these, the Sadducees denying the resurrection. (Verses Luke 20:27-38.) But here we may pause for a moment; for there are special and profoundly instructive touches peculiar to Luke. More particularly remark this that he alone, of all the evangelists, here characterizes men, in the activities of this life, as "the children of this world," or age. They are persons who live merely for the present. "The children of this world [age] marry, and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world [age], and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels." In the resurrection state there will be no such relations. The difficulty existed for, or rather was made by, unbelief only. Indeed, what else can incredulity ever pretend to? It imagines difficulties, and nowhere so much as in the most certain truth of God. The resurrection is the great truth to which all things turn which the Lord has shown in its final form, too, in His own person now raised from the dead, then just about to follow. This truth was combated and refused by the most active sect among the Jews at that time, the most intellectual and the best informed naturally. These were the persons who most of all set themselves against it.

But our Lord brings in another remarkable point here. Not only is God not the God of the dead, but of the living; but "all live unto him." (Ver. Luke 20:38; Luke 20:38.) Two great truths are here present living unto God after death, and future resurrection, when Jesus comes and brings in the new age. This was especially of value for Gentiles, because it was one of the great problems for the heathen mind, whether the soul existed after death, not to speak of the resurrection of the body. Naturally the Jews, save the unbelieving portion of them, looked for resurrection; but for the Gentiles the Spirit of God gives us our Lord's answer to the Sadducees, both proving the resurrection which is common to all the Gospels, and bringing in the living, of dead men in the separate state. It peculiarly fell within the domain of Luke.

This truth is not confined to the present portion of our Gospel. We have similar teaching elsewhere. Does not the account of the rich man and Lazarus intimate the same thing? Yea, more; not only the existence of the soul separate from the body, after death, of course) but also blessedness and misery at once. They are not absolutely dependent on the resurrection. Besides, there is the final publicly adjudicated portion of misery for body and soul before the great white throne. But, inLuke 16:1-31; Luke 16:1-31, blessedness and misery at once are felt by the soul in the dissolution of the link with the body. The figures, no doubt, are taken, as they must be, from the body. Thus we find the desire for cooling of the tongue, which men of speculative mind use to prove that it was the time of being clothed with a real body. Nothing of the sort. The Spirit of God speaks to be understood, and (if He is to be understood by men) He must deign to use language adapted to our comprehension. He cannot give us the understanding of a state which we have never experienced, unless it be by figures taken from the present state. A similar truth appears also later on in the case of the converted thief. The point there is just the same immediate blessedness, and not merely when the body is raised from the dead by and by. That is what he looked for when he sought to be remembered, when Jesus comes in His kingdom. But the Lord adds more immediate blessedness now: "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Depend upon it, we cannot be too stringent in maintaining, the importance both of the resurrection, and of the immediate blessedness or misery of the soul separate from the body before the resurrection. To give up the reality of the soul's existence in either misery or blessedness at once is only a stepping-stone to materialism; and materialism is but a prelude to giving up both the truth and the grace of God, and all the awful reality of man's sin and Satan's power. Materialism always is essentially infidel, though far from being, the only form of infidelity.

Towards the end of the chapter (ver. Luke 20:39-44; Luke 20:39-44) our Lord puts the great question of His own person and the position He was just going to take not on the throne of David but on the throne of God. Was not He Himself, David's Son owned as his Lord by David? On the person and position of Christ depends the whole of Christianity. Judaism, lowering the person, sees not or denies the position. Christianity is based not on the work only but on the glory of the person and place of Him who is glorified in God. He takes that place as man. He who humbled Himself as man in suffering is exalted as man to the glory of God on high.

Then follows the judgment but very briefly on the scribes; and in contrast With their selfish hypocrisy, ("which devour widows' houses and for a show make long prayers") the Lord's estimate of real devotedness is the widow's mites. (Luke 21:1-4.) Mark notices it as the service of faith and so brings it into his Gospel of service. Luke shows it as a question of the heart's state and trust in God. It fell therefore, within the domain of these two.

We have after this the hearts of the disciples proved to be still earthly and Jewish; but the Lord brings before them not the glory and beauty yet in store for Jerusalem but it is judgment specially on the temple. (Verses Luke 21:5-36.) At the same time we have particulars which demonstrate the weighty difference between this description of the judgment of the Jews and Jerusalem, and mark it off from the accounts of either Matthew or Mark. Observe more especially this, that here the Lord Jesus brings before us a very direct and immediate picture of the destruction of Jerusalem that was then imminent. Matthew passes by the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and fixes attention upon that which will take place in the end of the age. Luke gives us this last also closes, at any rate, with the future crisis; but the main point is the central portion of Luke is to point out the destruction then actually at hand as a distinct state of things and time from the circumstances of the Son of man's day. This is made perfectly plain to any one who considers it patiently. He says, "When ye shall sec Jerusalem, not "the abomination of desolation" (not a word about it here for it belongs to the last days exclusively; but "when ye shall see Jerusalem) compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains." Not a word about the great tribulation such as never was since time was; it is simply "days of vengeance." "These be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled." There is retributive severity, but not a sign appears of its being anything unparalleled. "There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people." So there was. "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations." This is a matter of fact description of what was really fulfilled to the letter in the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus. Thus there is no exaggerated description. The pretence of commentators, who rush to hyperbole as a cover for their misapplication, is cut off. Not that I allow it any more in Matthew. The only reason why men have so spoken of that evangelist is because they turn aside his prophecy of the end of the age to that which has been already accomplished. When the last days come, be assured they will learn too late that there is no hyperbole with God or His word.

And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Not only is there the sack of the city, the slaughter and captivity of the people, but continual occupation by their enemies till the termination of the period God allows the nations to have the supremacy over Israel. These times are going on now. Jerusalem has been trodden down of the Gentiles for many centuries as every one knows, throughout mediaeval and modern history. It seems particularly thus expressed in order not to continue the phrase to the Romans or previous imperial powers from Babylon downwards. Thus at the present time the Turks are the actual holders of it. The fact is notorious, that Jerusalem has been in the hands of many masters who have dealt hardly with the Jews. So He closes this matter.

Next, He introduces the last days. And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars. There was not a word of all this when He spoke of the siege and capture of the city under Titus. After the Gentile domination is over (which clearly it is not yet), there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and distress of nations; men's hearts failing them forfear; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see not when the Romans of old took the city but, in the future crisis, when these astonishing tokens, heavenly and earthly, are given by God then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."

He gives then a parable but not of the fig tree only: this would not be suitable to the largeness of Luke's scope. "Behold the fig-tree and all the trees." The difference between Luke and the others is this not that you have not the Jewish portion in his Gospel but that, moreover all the Gentiles are brought in. How perfect it all is! If it be but a parabolic description, the evangelist for the Gentiles not only gives the fig tree which is in Matthew, but the Gentile trees which are heard of nowhere else. That one tree notoriously applies to the Jews as a nation; the other figure ("all the trees") adds the rest, so as to be universal.

Then the Lord adds some moral considerations for the heart: "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." Need it be remarked here that this again falls in with our evangelist beyond all others? So too the brief picture of His daily occupation in the temple and of His nights apart at Olivet which in no way precluded the people from coming to hear early in the morning. What unwearied travail of love!

In Luke 22:1-71 we see our Lord with the disciples not now as a prophet, but about to become a sacrifice meanwhile giving them the sweetest pledge of His love. On the other hand, there is the hatred of man, the weakness of the disciples, the falsehood of Peter, the treachery of Judas, the subtlety and terrors of the enemy who had the power of death. The day of unleavened bread comes on, and the passover must be killed; and Peter and John go to prepare it. According to the Lord's word, the place was given. "And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." (Luke 22:14-16.) It was the last act of communion of Christ with them. He eats with them: He will not drink. Another cup was before Him. As for this cup, they were to take it, and divide it among themselves. It was not the Lord's Supper, but the paschal cup. He was about to drink of a far different cup, which His Father would give Him the anti-type of the passover, and the basis of the Lord's Supper. But as to the cup before them, He says, "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come." It was about to come morally; for Luke holds to that great principle the kingdom of God was about to be established in what you may call the Christian system. The phrase in Luke does not import some future dispensation or state of things about to be above or below, in visible power, but an imminent coming of God's kingdom, really and truly here. The other Gospels connect it with the future; Luke speaks of what was to be made good shortly "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

Meanwhile, He gives them also a new thing. (Luke 22:19-20.) He took bread with thanksgiving, brake it, and gave to them, saving, "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant* of my blood, which is shed for you." It was not the point with Luke to say "for many," while this was most appropriate in the Gospel of Matthew, because it intimates the extending of the efficacy of Christ's blood beyond the Jew. The old covenant which condemned was limited. The new covenant (or, rather, the blood of the rejected Christ, the Son of man, on which it was based) refused such narrow barriers. In Luke the same thing, occurs here, as we said applied to His account of the sermon on the mount. It is more personal, and hence deals more closely with the heart and conscience. How many a man acknowledges justification by faith in a general sense, who, the moment you make it personal, would shrink from taking the place of a justified man, as if this would be too much for God to give him! But, in truth it is impossible to go on with God aright, until the personal question is settled by divine grace. So the Lord here settles it for them personally. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you."

* "Testament" is wrong here, and, indeed, everywhere else in the New Testament, save in the parenthesis ofHebrews 9:16-17; Hebrews 9:16-17.

"And truly the Son of man goeth,......... but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!" An awful moral contrast rises before the spirit of the Saviour. Thus He felt it: as it is said elsewhere, "He was troubled." There is much vagueness in minds as to this merging all in the atonement, to the great detriment of their distinctness even in holding the atonement itself. To me it is a grievous thing, this denial practically of a large part of the sufferings of Christ. Pushed out, it rests on a want of faith in the real humanity of the Lord. I take for granted now that there is a firm hold of His bearing God's wrath on the cross. But even where that is maintained in a general way, at least, it is an awful thing to deny any part of His moral glory; and what is it but denying, this, to shut out those real sufferings which prove the extent and character of His humiliation, exalt and endear Himself in our eyes, and issue in the richest streams of comfort for His saints, who can afford to lose none of His sympathy?

Now, the Lord Jesus did feel the traitor's heartless ways (and we may learn it yet more from Psalms 109:1-31.) Surely also we ought to feel it, instead of merely treating it as a thing, that must be, and which Scripture prepares us for, or which God's goodness turns to gracious ends. All true enough; but are these the platitudes that content us before His troubled spirit? Or is not the sense of His sorrow to fill the heart in presence of this ineffable love, which endured all things for the elect's sake? Yea, it was from all: our Lord has to meet shame in those He loved best. "They began to enquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing." (Ver. Luke 22:23; Luke 22:23.) There was honesty in these hearts; but what ignorance! what unbrokenness of self! "There was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted greatest." Other evangelists, as well as Luke, mention that, when He was in the midst of His miracles and teaching, they were full of their unseemly rivalry; Luke mentions it where it was beyond comparison most painful and humiliating in presence of the communion of His body and His blood, and when they had just heard of the presence of the traitor in their midst, who was offering to sell their Master for thirty pieces of silver! "And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth." What grace! what a pattern! But forget not the warning. The patronizing, of the lordly benefactor has no place in Christ's mind for His followers. To serve was the Lord's place: may we prize it! (Verses Luke 22:24-27.)

Another touching, and beautiful trait in our Lord's dealing is here worthy of remark. He tells the disciples that it was they who had continued with Him in His temptations. In Matthew and Mark, and even in John, their forsaking of Christ is very conspicuous a little later. Luke alone tells how graciously He noticed their perseverance with Himself in His temptations. Both, of course, were perfectly true. In Luke it was the reckoning of grace. It was really the Lord who had deigned to continue with them, and had sustained their faltering steps; but He could say, "Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." It is always thus in grace. Matthew and Mark tell us the sad truth that, when He needed the disciples most, they all forsook Him and fled. His rejection was complete; and Old Testament Scripture was amply fulfilled. But, in view of the Gentile calling, New Testament grace has here a happier task.

Again, it is a scene peculiar to Luke, that, in the presence of the Saviour's death, Satan sifts one of the chief followers that belonged to the Saviour. But the Lord turns the sifting, and even the downfall of the saint to ultimate and great blessing not for that soul only but for others. How mighty, and wise, and good the ways of grace! not only its reckoning, but its experiences and its end! It was Simon that furnished the material. "Simon, Simon," says the Lord, "Satan hath desired [demanded] to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Simon, sadly ignorant of himself, is full of bold promises to go to prison or to death; but, says the Lord, "Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." All the evangelists record the fall; Luke alone records Christ's gracious prayer for, and purpose in, his restoration.

Then comes in another communication of our Saviour not more interesting than full of instruction. It is the contrast of the condition of the disciples during His ministry, and that which must be now that He was going to die. It was indeed concurrent with a change of vast import for Himself not awaiting His death, but in many respects beginning before it. The sense of His rejection and His approaching death not only pressed on the Saviour's spirit, but more or less also affects the disciples, who were under the pressure especially of what was done by men. "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors [or], [rather, lawlessness ἀνόμων ]: for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough." It is not surprising that the disciples at that time failed to seize His meaning. Though all the rest of His teaching might have taught them better, they took His words in a material sense, and conceived that He urged them to take a literal sword. It is evident He took up the figure of a sword and purse to show, that instead of counting any more on miraculous resources, they must in future use, according to the measure of their personal faith, whatever God furnished them with; that is, they must employ natural things for the Lord, instead of being, as hitherto, shielded by supernatural power in the midst of their foes. We find them afterwards using miracles; but it was for others. In their earlier mission it was never needed. No blow fell upon them. No prison closed its doors upon one of the twelve, or of the seventy. They traversed the length and breadth of the land, everywhere bearing their plain, solemn testimony, ever guarded by God's power: just like their Master Himself. We see how truly miraculous this power was apart from any exertion of it on their own behalf. But now all was to change; and the disciple must be as his Master. Jesus was going to suffer. They must make up their minds to the same thing. Of course, they are not excluded from but exhorted to, the looking up to God, and using faithfully whatever means the Lord gave them.

This, I apprehend, is the clear meaning of His altered language here. The Messiah was about to be openly cut off. The arm that had upheld them, and the shield that had been over them, are removed. So it was with Him. He was now about to face death; first in spirit, then in fact. Such was ever His way. Everything was in that order. He was surprised by nothing. He was not like a mere man who waited till he could not help following, and then went in steel through the trouble. This may be the way of men, to avoid what they can, and think as little as possible of what is painful and disagreeable. It may even be according to men's ideas of a hero, but it is not the truth of Christ. On the contrary, though the true God, He was a true man, and a holy sufferer, having a heart that felt every thing: this is the truth of Christ as man. Therefore He takes all from God, and feels all, as it really was for His glory.

Accordingly our Saviour, at the mount of Olives, (ver. Luke 22:39-46; Luke 22:39-46) shows how true what I have just asserted is; for there it is that He is found first of all telling them to pray, lest they should enter into temptation. Temptation may come and test the heart; but our entering into it is quite another thing. "Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Still farther to show its character, and His unimpeachable relation to God, as well as how really He was a suffering man, "there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." So difficult is the path of faith for men in one direction or another, that (in earlier days when, in the midst of adversaries and full of superstition, men yet clung to the stainless honour of the Son of God)the timid orthodox ventured on the bold step of expunging verses Luke 22:44-45; for what, after all, is so adventurous as this Uzzah-like anxiety for the ark of God? They thought it impossible that the Lord Jesus could suffer thus. Little did they estimate the depth unfathomable of the cross, when God hid His face from Him. Had they discerned this better, and been simple in the faith of His real manhood, and held to the written word about His sufferings on and before the cross, they had not been so easily stumbled. But they were not simple, understood in the Scriptures, and accordingly dared, some to stigmatize these verses, others to strike them out. In modern days they manage things both more prudently and more effectually. They may not obelize or obliterate; but they do not believe them. Men pass them over as if there was nothing for the soul in them, as if the Saviour Son of God condescended to a show, a pantomime, instead of enduring the severest conflict and anguish that ever had been the portion of a human heart on this earth. Never was any thing but reality in Jesus; but if in the days of His flesh there was one passage more affecting than another, any thing which more than another presents to us His sorrows clearly, graphically and with solemn instruction for us, anything for God Himself above all glorifying (the cross alone excepted) it was this very scene where Jesus avoids and wards off no suffering, but bends to every stroke, (and what was He spared?) seeing God's hand in all.

Now their hour was come, and the power of darkness. Before this they could not lay hands upon Him; but now, the active work done, and Himself definitively refused, Jesus accepts all humiliation, shame, and suffering. But he does not see man merely. He does not look at the devil, or Jews, or Gentiles. He feels all man did and said, and owns His Father. He knew full well that His Father could have hindered every pang had He been so pleased could have turned Israel's heart could have broken the nations. But now the Jew is left to abhor Him, the Gentile to despise and crucify Him. Against the holy servant Jesus whom God had anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathering together; but was it not to do whatsoever God's hand and God's counsel determined before to be done? He saw God His Father above and behind all the secondary instruments, and bowed and blessed, even while He prayed with blood-sweat. He would erect no barricade of miracles to shelter Himself. To weigh before God such circumstances as then surrounded Jesus, to anticipate in His presence what was coming, did not lessen, but rather increased the depth of all; and so we find Him praying earnestly to His Father that, if it were possible, the cup should pass away from Him. But it was not possible; and so He adds, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Both were perfect. It would have been hardness, not love, had the cup been treated as a light thing: but this could never be with Jesus. It was part of the very perfection of Jesus that he felt and deprecated the awful cup. For what was in that cup? The wrath of God. How could He wish for the wrath of God? It was right to deprecate it: it was like Jesus, notwithstanding, to say, "Thy will be done." Both the deprecation and the acceptance were thoroughly perfect both equally in their due place and season. Who fails to see it, or would harbour a doubt, that knows who Jesus was, and what the glory of His person? It is not a question, however, of His merely being God; and you destroy the value of the suffering if you do not give full place to His humanity. Not that His Godhead ever made His suffering less; else the result would have been some nondescript estate which was neither Godhead nor manhood, but somewhat made up of both. It was an early error to suppose an impassible Christ. There is no worse invention against the truth, unless it be the lie which denies Him to be God the Son. An unsuffering impassible Christ is of Satan, not the true God and eternal life. It is a false chimera of the enemy. Be assured, that if the suffering be so real and precious to God, it is a dangerous thing to pare down, fritter away, or deny any part of it. For us it is the question of what God tells us in His word of the sufferings of Christ not whether we understand all He says about them. Be assured that we know but in part, and have much to learn, especially of that which does not touch our own immediate necessities; but there is one thing we are always responsible for and that is, to submit to God, to believe Him, even though we enter very little into the depths of all that He has written for us of Jesus.

Only this I would add. It does not become such as say they do not understand this or that, to take the place of being judges. It is intelligible that those who know should judge; not so, as it appears to me, that people should take the place of judging who confessedly do not know. It were wise, not to say becoming humility, to wait and learn.

Next we see Judas, who approaches and kisses Christ: the Lord of glory is betrayed by the apostle. The final scene comes on apace; and not more surely, according to the word of Christ, the murderous malice of the priests, than the energy of Peter, so fatal, to himself, who could not face the difficulty into which his self-confidence carried him. He that could not pray with his Master, but slept in the garden, breaks down without his Master before a servant girl. The rest fled. John tells the tale of his own shame, with Peter's. The scene is complete. There is not a witness for Jesus now. He is alone. Man has it apparently all his own way, in mockery, blows, and blasphemy; but yet he is only accomplishing the will, the purpose, and the grace of God. (Ver. Luke 22:63-65.) The chapter closes with Jesus before the council of elders, chief priests, and scribes. "Art thou the Christ?" was too late now: they had proved that they would not believe. From henceforth [not] ["hereafter,'' as in the A.V.] shall the Son of man be sitting on the right hand of the power of God. It is the well-known transition, we see everywhere, on the rejection of the Messiah. "Art thou then the Son of God?" said they all. He owns to the truth; and they need no more to condemn Him.

In Luke 23:1-56 Jesus is found not before Pilate only, but Herod; and the two men who heretofore hated each other are here reconciled, now that it is a question of rejecting Jesus. It is only Luke who gives us this touch. What a league of peace over the rejection of the Saviour! At any rate the scorning of Jesus proceeds; and Pilate, carried away against his conscience by the will of the people, gave sentence that it should be as they required. Jesus is led away to the cross, and Simon is compelled to bear it after Jesus; for now man shows his needless cruelty in every form

The women that were there lament with the crowd after Jesus: there was much of human feeling in this, though not faith or real love. Why not lament for themselves; for in truth there were days of sorrow coming, when they should say, "Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare; and the paps that never gave suck." "Then they shall begin to say to the mountains fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" Jesus was the green tree; and if Jesus was so treated, what should be their fate, as set forth fully by that dry tree, which was Israel? Undoubtedly Israel ought to have been the green tree of promise; but it was only a dry tree waiting, for judgment. But Jesus, the green tree(where there was all the vigour of holy ways and obedience), was far from honour, and now on His way to the cross. Such was man, to whom He had been delivered! What would be God's judgment of man? (VersesLuke 23:27-31; Luke 23:27-31.)

And they crucified Jesus between two malefactors the one on the right hand, and the other on the left and Jesus says, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." They part His raiment, and cast lots for it. The people behold, the rulers deride, and the soldiers mock; but a superscription was written over Him in Greek, and Roman, and Hebrew letters This is the King of the Jews. (VersesLuke 23:32-38; Luke 23:32-38.)

Jesus works the great work of salvation in the heart of one of the malefactors. It was a real work within: it was not merely a work ever so perfectly done outside. Most assuredly there never was a soul saved but the work was done for him done alone by Jesus He alone suffering, the sinner saved. But where the heart knows the work done for the soul, there is a work done in that very soul. So it was here: and it is of great importance that those who maintain the work for, should equally maintain the work in. Even in this case, where the effect was produced rapidly, the Spirit of God has given us the great moral traits of it. First of all appears a hatred of sin in the fear of God; then the repentant heart rebukes the shameless evil of his fellow, who feels that it is, least of all, a time thus to sin boldly in the presence of death, and of God's judgment. "We indeed justly; but this man hath done nothing amiss." Evidently there was more than righteousness here. There was a sense of grace, as well as of sin, and sensitiveness about God's will. There was delight in "this man," Jesus, whose holiness made such an impression, that the poor felon, now a believer, could challenge all the world, and feel no more doubt of the Lord's blameless life than if he had witnessed it all through. How great is the simplicity and assurance of faith! Who was he that could correct the judgment of priests or governor? "This man hath done nothing amiss." It was a crucified robber! He forgot Himself in Christ the Lord thus vindicated. Then he turns to Jesus, and says, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Yes! and Jesus will remember could not put Him aside. He never cast out either a soul that came to Him, or a prayer that was founded on His glory, and desired association with Him. It could not be. He came down to associate with the poorest and feeblest on earth. He is now gone on high to associate with Himself there those who were once, possibly, the worst on the earth, now with Himself above, cleansed of course (need we say it?) cleansed by water and blood. And so with this soul whom grace had now touched. "Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom." What more convincing proof that the man had not an anxiety about his sins? for if he had, he would, of course, have put it forward. He would have said, "Lord, do not remember my sins." Nothing of the sort was uttered, but "Lord, remember me." What would Christ's kingdom be to him, if his sins were not blotted out? He so counted on His grace, that no doubt or question remained, and he asks to be remembered by Jesus at His advent, ascribing the kingdom to Him who was hanging on the cross. He was right; and Jesus replies with ineffable grace, and according to that style so worthy of God (compare Psalms 132:1-18), which not only answers the prayer of faith, but invariably surpasses it. God must be God in His recognition of faith, as everywhere else. We saw on the mount of transfiguration that there is a blessedness beyond that of the kingdom, where government is not in question. This is not the theme predicted by prophets, but a glory which the person of Jesus alone can account for, and His grace alone introduce to. So here Jesus says to the converted robber, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise" at once, by virtue of His blood, the companion of Christ in the garden of divine joy and delight. (Verses Luke 23:39-43.)

Then the Spirit of God notices the darkness which reigned, and not merely in the lower air around the earth; for the sun was darkened, the splendid orb of natural light, which rules the day. The veil of the temple, too, which characterized the whole system of the Jewish religion, was rent from top to bottom. This was not the effect of an earthquake, nor of other physical causes. The natural light disappeared, and Judaism vanished, that a new and true light might shine, making him who saw it free of the holiest of all. Luke groups the external facts together, and leaves the Lord's death more alone with its moral adjuncts.

"And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." Here there is no cry to God in the sense of being forsaken, when His soul was made an offering for sin. This was given appropriately by Matthew and Mark. Nor is it as the consciously divine person, the Son, pronouncing the work finished for which He had come. It is the ever perfect man, Christ Jesus, with unwavering confidence committing His spirit into His Father's keeping. (Compare Psalms 16:1-11; Psalms 31:1-24) It was the atoning One. On the cross, and nowhere else, was expiation effected; there was His blood shed; there His death, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet knew what it was to have the face of God hid from Him in judgment of sin our sin. But the words here are no expression of His suffering, as thus abandoned and atoning, but of the peaceful departure of His spirit, as man, into the hands of God the Father. He is drinking the cup in Matthew and Mark; He, the true, but rejected Messiah, the faithful servant, now suffering for sin, who had laboured in grace here below. But here the Saviour is viewed in His absolute dependence and trust in Him, whom He had set before Him, as in life always, so with equal affiance of heart in death. It was the province of John to show Him even then above all circumstances in personal glory. It is beyond all controversy, that here the human side of Christ's death is more vividly portrayed than in any of the Gospels perfect, but human; just as in John it is the divine side, though care is taken to prove particularly there its reality, as well as the witness of its efficacy for sinful man. The consistency of this with all we have seen in Luke, from first to last, is unquestionable: Son of God of the Highest, as of David also; but He is emphatically, and in every detail, the Son of man.

Remark here the absence of a crowd of circumstances of the deepest interest to the Jew, when grace makes him meek, and obedient in heart of solemn warning to him, whatever the unbelief which shuts up his heart and seals his ears, to the truth Here is no dream and message from Pilate's wife; here no awful episode of Judas . In remorse and despair, casting the price of innocent blood into the very sanctuary, and going away to hang himself; here no imprecation of His blood on them and on their children; here no detail of the guilty people's unconscious accomplishment of the living oracles of God in the Psalms and Prophets; nor here any allusion to the earthquake, and the rent rocks, and opened graves, or the subsequent appearing of risen saints to many in the holy city. All this has its due place in the Gospel for the circumcision. Luke tells us what had the largest bearing on the Gentiles, on the heart, its wants, and its affections. We see the people beholding, the rulers also with them sneering, the soldiers mocking with vulgar brutality, but Jesus dealing in ineffable grace with a justly crucified malefactor. No doubt there was the deepest of suffering for Himself. Certainly, too, His suffering, though not confined to the cross, there culminated, as there alone was sin judged; there God's necessary intolerance of it was proved, when only, but most really, imputed to Christ. Thus, the only perfect man, the last Adam, who was there rejected of the Jews, and despised of men, with a loud voice, which denied the exhaustion of nature in His death, commended His spirit, as man, to His Father. It is not here, therefore, One speaking in the sense of God's abandonment (as we saw in Matthew and Mark), though this cup He had, indeed, drank to the dregs. But in this Gospel the last words are of One who, whatever the forsaking of God for sin, was perfectly tranquil, and peacefully committed Himself to His Father. It is the act and language of Him whose confidence was unlimited in the One He was going to. He had come to do His will, and had done it in the face of growing scorn and rejection; and God had not guarded Him from the murderous hate of man, but contrariwise, delivered Him into their hands, greater things being in counsel and accomplishment than if He had been received. The truth is the sum of what all tell us. Those who believe God, instead of being fettered to the traditions of a school, good or bad, must open their mouth wide for Him to fill with His good things old and new. He who on the cross tasted, for expiation, the unutterable woe of which Matthew and Mark speak, is the same Jesus who, Luke tells us, never wavered for a moment, not merely in His obedience, but in unreserved confidence in God; and the expression of this, not of atonement, I read in the precious words, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (VersesLuke 23:44-46; Luke 23:44-46.)

Accordingly, the centurion is mentioned here as owning Jesus to be "a righteous man," whatever man might have judged or done. The people seem conscious that it was all over with them stricken in heart over a deed they could not but feel to be dreadful, though hardly defined. God does not leave man without witness. But, as usual, with men without the revealed light of God, though conscious when sin is done that there is something utterly wrong it is soon forgotten; so here, though not without the sense that the case was desperate, they go not only as sheep without a shepherd, but stumble in the dark night. All His acquaintances and the women are seen in their sorrow not vain surely not; but still they stood far off: (VersesLuke 23:46-49; Luke 23:46-49.)

Yet was this the moment when, spite of a traitorous disciple, spite of another too confident that denied Him with oaths, spite of all who ought to have been faithful forsaking and fleeing, spite of the distant and saddened lookers on who had once followed Him devotedly, God emboldens a man of high station, who might have been then the least expected by us (and, as we are told elsewhere, Nicodemus). Joseph of Arimathea was a man that had waited for the kingdom of God for some time, a good man and just, and a real believer, though he had shrunk from open confession of the Lord Jesus; but now, when fear might naturally have more than ever operated to keep him back, grace made him bold. This, at least, was quite right, and like the God of all grace. If the death of our Lord does not unlock a man's heart and tongue, I do not know what will. So this timid Joseph waxes valiant in fight. The honourable counsellor renounced the expediency and prudence of the past, horrified, no doubt, at their counsel and deed to which he had not assented. But now he does more: he add to his faith virtue. He goes boldly to Pilate, and begs the body of Jesus, Which, being obtained, is worthily laid in the rock-hewn sepulchre, wherein never had man beenlaid. (Verse Luke 23:53.)

"And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.'' (Ver. Luke 23:54-56.) It was affection, but with little intelligence. Their love lingered. over the scene of His death and burial, without for the present in the least realizing, that life which was to be put forth soon so gloriously. Had they not heard His words? Would He, would God, not make them good?

On the morrow of the sabbath, very early indeed in the morning, these Galilean women were there, and some others with them. (Luke 24:1) And they found the stone rolled away, but not the body of Jesus. They were not alone; angels appeared. Two men in shining array stood by these perplexed saints. "And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, [what a rebuke to their unbelief!] Why seek ye the living (One) among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you while he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words." (Ver. Luke 24:5-8; Luke 24:5-8.) This last is ever a great point with Luke the emphatic value always of any part of God's word, but especially of the words of Jesus.

Accordingly, after this was duly reported to the apostles and the rest, one like another incredulous, we have the visit of Peter (accompanied, as John lets us know, by himself), who sees confirmation enough, and departed, wondering, in himself at that which was come to pass. (Verses Luke 24:9-12.)

Luke then ushers in another scene, still more precious, peculiar in its details at least to himself the journey to Emmaus, where Jesus joins Himself to the two downcast disciples, who discoursed, as they went, on the irreparable loss they had sustained. Jesus hears this tale of sorrow from their lips, brings out the state of their hearts, and then opens the Scriptures, instead of merely appealing to the facts in the way of evidence. This employment of the Scriptures by our Lord is very significant. It is the word of God which is the truest, deepest, weightiest testimony, even though the risen Jesus Himself were there, and its living, demonstration in person. But it is the written word which, as the apostle himself shows, is the sole adequate safeguard for the perilous times of the last days. Here, too, the loved companion of Paul proves, in the history of the resurrection, the value of the Scriptures. The word of God here the Old Testament interpreted by Jesus is the most valuable means for ascertaining the mind of God. Every Scripture is inspired of God, and is profitable yea, able to make us "wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus." Hence our Lord expounds to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. What a sample that day was of the walk of faith! Henceforth it was not a question of a living, Messiah on the earth, but of Him that was dead and risen, now seen by faith in the word of God. On the face of the account, this was the great living lesson that our Lord was teaching, us through the two disciples. (Verses Luke 24:13-29.)

But there was more. How is He to be known? There is but one way that can be trusted in which we can know Jesus. There are those in Christendom that descant upon Jesus as ignorant of His glory as a Jew or a Mahometan. Our own day has seen how men can speak and write eloquently of Jesus as a man here below, all the while serving Satan denying His name, His person, His work, when they flatter themselves they are honouring Him, like the weeping women (Luke 23:27), without a grain of faith in His glory or His grace. Hence was it of all importance that we should learn wherein He is to be known. Thus Jesus sets forth the Only way in which He can be rightly known, or that can be confided in. On this alone God can put His seal. The seal of the Holy Ghost is unknown until there is the submission of faith to the death of Jesus. And so our Lord breaks bread with the disciples. It was not the Lord's Supper; but Jesus made use of that act of breaking the bread significantly, which the Lord's Supper brings before us continually. In it, as we know, bread is broken the sign of His death. Thus Jesus was pleased, Himself with them, that the truth of His death should flash upon the two souls at Emmaus. He was made known unto them in the breaking of bread in that most simple but striking action which symbolises His death. He had blessed, broken, and was giving the bread to them, when their eyes were opened, and they recognised their risen Lord. (VerseLuke 24:30; Luke 24:30.)

There is a third supplemental point, which I only touch on His instant disappearance after He was made known to them in the sign of His death. This is also characteristic of Christians. We walk by faith, not by sight. (VerseLuke 24:31; Luke 24:31.)

Thus the great evangelist, who exhibits what is most real for man's heart now, and what most of all maintains the glory of God in Christ, binds these things together for our instruction. Though Scripture was perfectly expounded by Jesus, and though hearts burned as they heard of these wondrous things, still it must be shown in concentrated form that the knowledge which alone can be commended by God or trusted by man is this Jesus known in that which brings His death before the soul. The death of Jesus is the sole foundation of safety for a sinful man. This is the true way of knowing Jesus for a Christian. Anything short of this, anything other than this, whatever supplants it as fundamental truth, is false. Jesus is dead and risen, and so must be known, if He is to be known aright. "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more."

And so, that same hour, we see the disciples returning to Jerusalem, and finding the eleven there, who say, "The Lord hath risen, and appeared unto Simon." (Verses Luke 24:32-34.) Here we have nothing about Galilee. In Matthew, Galilee is the quarter especially noticed. A rejected Messiah, fitly and according to prophecy, finds Himself in Galilee, the despised place. It was so during His life and public ministry (and hence it figures in Mark so prominently). He takes the same place now after His death and resurrection, there resuming relations with His disciples. The godly remnant of the Jews must know the rejected Messiah there. His resurrection did not terminate their path of rejection. The Church knows Him yet more blessedly as ascended, and itself one with Him on high; and its rejection is even more decided. However, in Matthew, Galilee is the sign for a converted Jewish remnant till He come to reign in power and glory. The remnant of the last days will know what it is to be cast outside Jerusalem also, and it is as outcasts that they will find real deepening of faith and due preparation of heart for receiving the Lord when he appears in the clouds of heaven. This Galilean resort Luke does not give here. Substantially Mark gives Galilee for the active life of the Saviour like Matthew, because, as has been said, there His ministry was chiefly exercised, and only occasionally in Jerusalem or elsewhere. Therefore the evangelist of the ministry of Jesus draws attention to the place in which He had ministered most Galilee; but even he does not speak of it exclusively. Luke, on the contrary, says nothing of Galilee at this point. The reason seems to me manifest. His theme is the moral state of the disciples, the way of Christ's grace, the Christian path of faith, the place of the word of God, and the person of Christ, only known safely, according to God, in that which sets forth His death. This at least must he the basis.

There is another truth necessary to be known and proved, His real resurrection, who stood in the midst of them with a "Peace to you;" not without His death, but founded on it, and thus declared. So, in the next scene at Jerusalem, this finds its full display; for the Lord Jesus comes into their midst, and partakes of food before their eyes. There was His body; it was risen. Who could longer doubt that it was really the same Jesus who died, and will yet come in glory? "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself!" As we know, the Lord deigns to go yet farther in John; but there it was to convict Thomas's unbelief, as well as with a mysterious typical meaning behind. He would correct the previously absent and still doubting disciple; it is the sight that is the point there. This is not the question here, but rather the reality of the resurrection, and the identity of Jesus risen with Him they had known as their Master, and withal as still man, not a spirit, but having flesh and bones, and capable of eating with them. (VersesLuke 24:36-43; Luke 24:36-43.)

After this our Lord speaks once more of what was written in Moses and prophets and psalms concerning Him. (Ver. Luke 24:44.) It is the word of God again brought out; not merely to two of them, but its unspeakable value for them all.

Further, He opens their understanding to understand the Scriptures, and gives them their great commission, but bids them remain in Jerusalem till endued with power from on high, when He sends them the promise of the Father. (Ver. Luke 24:45-49.) Here the Lord does not say, "Make disciples of all the Gentiles, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." This most fitly has its place in Matthew, spite (yea, because of) His rejection. The suffering but now risen Son of man takes the universal field of the world, and sends His disciples among all the nations to make disciples, and baptize them into the name of the Trinity. It is not, therefore, the old limits of Israel and the lost sheep, but He extends the knowledge of His name and mission outside. Instead of bringing Gentiles to see the glory of Jehovah shining on Zion, they are to be baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as now revealed fully; and (instead of what Moses commanded) "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

In Luke we have not the charge of the work committed to the workmen, as in Mark, with signatures of God's gracious power accompanying; but here it is the message of a Saviour dead and risen, the Second Man, according to Scripture, and the moral need of man and the grace of God, who proclaims in His name repentance and remission to all the nations or Gentiles. Therefore, just as we have seen the resurrection of our Lord in connection with Jerusalem, where He had been crucified, so He would have the preaching begun there, not going away, as it were, from the guilty city alas! the holy city, and only the more guilty, because such was its name and privilege. But here, on the contrary, by virtue of Christ's death who put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, all disappears in the presence of the infinite grace of God all blessing secured, if there be but the acceptance of Christ and His work. Hence He says, "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer." No doubt man was guilty beyond measure and without excuse. There were mighty purposes of God to be accomplished; and not only must He rise on the third day, but He enjoins that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name repentance necessarily showing the great moral work in man, remission of sins being God's great provision of grace through redemption to clear the conscience. Both were to be preached in His name. Who that believes and understands the cross could dream longer of man's worthiness? Repentance, so far from allowing it, is the perception and confession that there is no good in man, in me; it is wrought by grace, and is inseparable from faith. It is man giving up himself as altogether bad, man resting upon God as altogether good to the bad, and both proved in the remission of sins by Jesus, whom man, Jew and Gentile, crucified and slew. Remission of sins therefore, with repentance, was to be preached in His name. This was the sole warrant and ground. They were to be preached to all the nations, beginning with Jerusalem.

In Matthew the point appears to be the rejection of Jerusalem, the rejecter, because of its Messiah, the discipular remnant starting from the mountain in Galilee; and the presence of the Lord being guaranteed till the end of the age, when other changes come. In Luke all disappears, except grace, in presence of sin and misery. Absolute grace begins, therefore, with the spot which needed it most, and Jerusalem is expressly named.

We have seen how this chapter settles, if I may so express it, the Christian system on its proper basis, bringing out its chief peculiarities with striking force and beauty. More remains of similar character, especially the very distinct privileges of the understanding opened to understand, and the power of the Holy Ghost; the one given then, the other not till Pentecost. "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day....... And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Thus the Holy Ghost was not given yet as an indwelling person, but rather a reiteration of the Father's promise. Remaining in Jerusalem they should be clothed with power an essential thing for Christianity, and quite distinct from spiritual intelligence already conferred, as is apparent also in Peter's word and way in Acts 1:1-26. In the Gospel of John where the person of Jesus shines so conspicuously, the Holy Ghost is set forth personally, with equal distinctness at least, in Luke 14:1-35; Luke 16:1-31. But here this is not the point, but His power, although He be, of course, a person. It is rather the promise of the Spirit's power to act in man that is brought before us. They, like Christ, must be "anointed with the Holy Ghost, and with power;" they must wait for "power from on high" from the risen and ascended Man.

But even so, the Lord Himself would not terminate the Gospel thus. "And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them." It was a spot that used to be most precious to Him, and, observe it well, was not less precious to Him after He rose from the dead. There is no greater mistake than to suppose, that an object of affection to Him before He died ceases to be such to Him when risen. Hence it would seem to give an open contradiction to those that deny the reality of the resurrection body, and of its proper affections. He was indeed a real man, albeit the Lord of glory. He led them out, then, as far as Bethany, the retreat of the Saviour, to which His heart turned in the days of His flesh. "And he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." He that filled with blessing the hearts devoted to Him in His life, was still blessing them when He was separated from them for heaven. "And they worshipped him." Such was the fruit of His blessing, and of His great grace. "And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God." It was meet it should be so. He that blesses us not only communicates a blessing, but gives the power that returns to God a blessing the power of real worship communicated to human hearts on the earth, by the Lord Jesus now risen from the dead. They "were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God;" but they were associated in life and love with One whose glory was far above them or any conceivable precincts of the earth, and were soon to be made one with Him, and to be the vessels of His power by the energy of the Holy Ghost, who would make this evident in due time.

May the Lord be pleased to bless His own word, and to grant that those who love Him and it may approach the scripture with still more confidence! If aught which has been said here tends to remove somewhat of mist from any eyes, encourages, simplifies, or otherwise helps in reading God's word, surely my little labour will not have been in vain, either now or for eternity. The Lord alone can make His own word sanctifying. But it is much to believe it to be what it really is, not (as unbelief thinks) a field of darkness and uncertainty, requiring light upon it, but a light itself, which communicates light to the dark, through the power of the Holy Ghost revealing Christ. May we prove that it is indeed like Christ, of whom it speaks, needed, real, and unerring light to our souls; that it is also the sole, adequate, and irrefragable witness of divine wisdom and grace, but this only as revealed in and by Christ! I take it to be a token of great good that, as in early days, the person of Christ was not only the fiercest battleground and prime object of the final struggle of the apostles on the earth, but was the means whereby the Spirit of God wrought to give a deeper and deepening enjoyment of the truth and grace of God more profoundly searching, no doubt, but at the same time more invigorating for the saints), so no otherwise, unless I be greatly mistaken, is it now. I remember the time, though unable to boast of any very lengthened scene to look back on as a Christian, when at least almost all for I will not say all were more engaged in attacking ecclesiastical error, and spreading much of kindred and other truth (and, in its place and time, important truth). But it was truth that did not so directly build up the soul, nor did it so immediately concern the Lord Himself. And although not a few, who then seemed strong and courageous enough, are gone to the winds (and a similar sifting still goes on, and will to the end), yet sure am I that in the midst of all these troubles and humiliations God has been elevating the standard of Christ for those who are firm and faithful. God has shown that His name is, as ever, a stumbling-stone for unbelief; but for the simple and spiritual a sure foundation, and most precious. The Lord grant that even these our studies of the Gospels, which have been necessarily curt and cursory, may nevertheless give an impulse not only to younger saints, but to those who may be ever so old; for assuredly there is no one, whatever may be his maturity, who will not be all the better for a fuller acquaintance with Him who is from the beginning.