LECTURE CXXXII.

LUKE XXIV. 1-12.

"Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold two men stood by them in shining garments; 5. 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? 6. He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7. Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8. And they remembered his words, 9. And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 10. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 11. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. 12. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

We have already contemplated the only begotten Son of God in that depth of his humiliation-his death and burial: we now come to consider the first step of his exaltation— his glorious resurrection. Let us enter on the subject with a deep sense of the importance of the event in itself, and in its consequences. It is one of the great hinges on which the whole plan of salvation turns. Give this event its proper place, in connection with our Lord's atoning death, and all is harmony and hope; take this event away, and what remains but confusion, darkness, and despair? "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain;" 66 ye are yet in your sins," "and they also who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished."

In prosecuting this subject, we shall not go over the verses now read in the exact order in which they lie, but proceed in the way of distinct observations, under the illustration of which will be introduced, not only every thing

contained in this passage, but the greater part of what is elsewhere stated in connection with this event. May the Spirit of the living God cause us, even now, to feel the blessed efficacy of this grand doctrinal fact. May the "God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of our understanding being enlightened; that we may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards them that believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." May we "know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means we might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."

We observe,

I. That Christ's resurrection was distinctly and repeatedly foretold. It was foretold in the 16th Psalm, as quoted and explained in Acts ii. 24-32: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell," or the state of the dead, "neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption." "David seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ." It was foretold in the 68th Psalm, in which it is said, “Thou hast ascended up on high;" for, his ascension presupposes his resurrection. It was foretold in the 53d chapter of Isaiah, where it is said, that, after his soul shall be made an offering for sin, “he shall prolong his days." It was foretold by himself, when he said, "As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth;" when he said, "Destroy this temple," speaking of the temple of his body, "and in three days I will raise it up;" and when he said, expressly and repeatedly, that he should be killed, and be "raised again the third day."* To these predictions by Jesus himself, the angel thus refers, in the 6th and 7th verses of the 66 before passage us, Remember how he spake unto you, when 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.” It is true that the disciples "understood none of these things," at the time they were spoken.+ But Luke now adds, "And they," (the women) "remembered his words." We know, too,

* Matt. xvi. 21, xvii. 23, xx. 19.

Luke xviii. 34.

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that the disciples not only remembered these sayings of Christ, but at last understood them, and had their faith confirmed by them. After relating what Jesus said concerning the temple of his body," the evangelist John* adds, "When, therefore, he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them: and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said." Now, this is a consideration of importance to us in the way of the confirmation of our faith. The resurrection of Christ being thus distinctly and repeatedly foretold, prevented any surprise, and led to the precautions of which we shall soon speak. Thus, too, his resurrection is of weight, not only as a miracle, but as a fulfilment of prophecy, and is possessed of double authority. As in many other instances, so here in a remarkable degree, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

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II. Christ's enemies took every precaution to prevent deception. They were sure that he was actually dead. Had he been only in a swoon, he could not have had a real resurrection. But we are told that though the soldiers brake the legs of the two malefactors, they brake not his legs, for they saw that he was dead already." One of them, however, inflicted such a wound with a spear, on his side, as would of itself have been sufficient to kill him. Pilate, too, was at pains to ascertain that he was indeed dead, and learned that he was dead for some time, before he gave leave to remove the body. We have seen that the body was buried that it was really deposited in the tomb. This, it is implied, if not positively stated, in the narrative, his enemies would ascertain; for, what could have been the use of securities, if they had not been certain that what they wished to secure was actually there? Quite aware of what he had foretold, they were in no degree taken by surprise, but, on the contrary, adopted the strongest and most decided measures to prevent imposition. The account which Matthew gives is as follows: "Now, the next day that followed the preparation," that is, on the Jewish Sabbath, "the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead; * John ii. 22.

so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch, go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." The guard of soldiers was intended to prevent the disciples from carrying away the body, and the seal was chiefly intended to be a security against unfaithfulness to their trust on the part of the soldiers.* The priests and Pharisees doubtless intended to visit the sepulchre after the third day had elapsed, in the hope of finding the dead body there, and showing it publicly; which would certainly have been a complete refutation of Jesus' claims. Vain, however, were these precautions. The divine purpose and power were not to be defeated by a band of soldiers, or a seal. Yet, in one sense, these precautions were not vain, for all this excessive care did not pre vent our Lord's resurrection, but it strengthened the evidence that it really took place. Here the Lord took the wise in their own craftiness, and caused the wrath of men to praise him.

III. Several circumstances connected with Christ's resurrection demand particular notice. One of these is the cir-cumstance of the time when he rose, namely, the third day after his death. He was crucified on the Friday, and he rose again on the Sunday, the first day of the week. He tasted of death, and was laid in the grave; yet he did not lie so long as to putrify, or see corruption. He rose exactly at the time predicted. He said, it is true, that he was to be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth;" but that saying was, of course, consistent with his other saying, that he was to rise again the third day. The Jews, not having a single word to express the natural day of twenty-four hours, used the circumlocution of a day and a night; and, counting inclusively, our Lord lay in the grave part of three natural days, though the period, strictly speaking, included only two nights, one whole day, and part of two other days. We have an example of these two forms of expression in the Book of Esther.† "Fast ye for me," said she, "and neither eat nor drink three days, night nor day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so I will go in unto the king:" accordingly, we afterwards find it stated that she went in to the king on the third day." In the exact time of our Lord's resurrection, we see an in* Obsignate cellas, referte annulum ad me.-Plaut. Cas. II. i. 1. Esth. iv. 16, v. 1. See also 1 Kings xx. 29; 2 Chron. x. 5, 12,

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stance of divine foreknowledge and arrangement, and another fulfilment of prophecy.

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Another circumstance connected with this great event is the ministration of angels. These holy beings were ever ready to attend and serve the Son of God. They made known his conception and birth; they worshipped him after his temptation; they strengthened him in his agony; and now they ministered at his resurrection. Matthew says,* And, behold, there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men." Luke says, "Behold, two men stood by them," (that is, by the women,) "in shining garments,"-evidently two angels. "And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth"-for even pious persons were usually filled with fear on such appearances the angels kindly accosted them, and said "unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen:" and, as in Matthew, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Then, according to Luke, and as we have already noticed, the angels reminded the women of what Jesus had said before his death; Matthew tells us that the angel said, "Go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.'

The visible presence of angels on this occasion was a convincing evidence of an interposition from heaven; we must observe, however, that though the instrumentality of angels was employed in rolling away the stone, Christ was raised, not by angelic, but by divine power. None but that God who bestows life at first can restore it when it is altogether lost. It is frequently declared in Scripture, without reference to the distinction of persons in the Godhead, that God raised Christ from the dead. With such a reference, however, it is said that he " was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father." His resurrection is ascribed to his own power, when he says of his life, "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again;" and when he says of his body, "In three days I will raise it up."t And yet, we are told, "that being put to death in the flesh, he was quickened by the Spirit." In this, these three were Rom. vi. 4; John x. 18, ii. 19; 1 Pet. iii. 18.

*Matt. xxviii. 2.