Page images
PDF
EPUB

307

THE RESURRECTION AND

ASCENSION OF JESUS

CHRIST.

MATT. XXViii. 1 to the end.

the end.

MARK XVI. 1 to LUKE xxiv. 1 to the end. JOHN

xx. xxi. throughout. THE particular circumstances recorded in the evangelical history relative to these two grand events, like those connected with the resurrection of Lazarus, in the preceding miracle, are so numerous and so important, that it would require a volume to give an explanation of each distinctly. It is therefore thought proper, as in the foregoing miracle, to make a selection of the more distinguished parts, which enter into the composition of the above histories, and it is hoped that a satisfactory explanation of them will be found in the following questions and answers.

Q. Are you quite correct, when you rank the resurrection and ascension of the BLESSED JESUS under the class of miracles which He wrought?

A. Yes; for no one can doubt but that each of those events required a supernatural agency

for its accomplishment, consequently that it was miraculous; and it is alike evident that each event was wrought by JESUS CHRIST Himself, and not by any other being, since He Himself declares concerning His resurrection, I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again, (John x. 17,18;) and again, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But He spake of the temple of His body, (John ii. 19, 21.) It is manifest, there fore, from these words, that the BLESSED Jesus rose again from the dead by His own divine energy, or by virtue of the DIVINITY within Himself, and not only so, but that of Himself He laid down His life, and that consequently the Jews had no power to crucify Him but what He gave them. And as we are thus constrained by the testimony of JESUS CHRIST to assert, that He raised Himself from the dead by His own divine energy, so are we constrained in like manner to refer His ascension to the same source of omnipotence, and thus to insist, that no other power but His own was instrumental in effecting it.

Q. What do you conceive to be the evidence, on which the grand facts of the resurrection and ascension of the BLESSED JESUS rest, and by which they are supported?

A. The evidence in favour of both these facts is as strong and conclusive, or more so, than that by which any other historical fact whatsoever is

established; for it is an evidence grounded in prophecy, and confirmed by the senses of a great number of witnesses. That it is grounded in prophecy, is manifest from all those various passages in the sacred. Scriptures, in which the facts to which it relates are predicted; and that it was confirmed by the senses of a multitude of witnesses, is alike evident from every part of the gospel history in which those facts are recorded. Thus the BLESSED JESUS, after His resurrection, was first seen by some pious women, next by some of His apostles, afterwards by them all, and lastly, as St. Paul testifies, by five hundred brethren at once. He did also eat and converse with many of His disciples; and His resurrection was further confirmed by the vision and voice of angelic beings. (See Matt. xxviii. to 8. Mark xvi. 5. Luke xxiv. 4 to 8.) There cannot therefore remain a single doubt in the welldisposed mind, respecting the undeniable evidence by which the above facts are supported, and on which they rest.

Q. Is it to be supposed that the blessed JESUS rose from the grave with His whole body complete, or, as some conceive, that its material part was dissipated in the tomb, and that thus He rose merely in a spiritual body, such as the angels have?

A. It is to be supposed that He rose with His whole body complete, and that He left nothing behind Him in the sepulchre, consequently that the material body was not dissipated, but glorified; and this idea seems confirmed by His own

words to His disciples after His resurrection. For when, on this occasion, they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit, He said unto them, Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I my self; handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet, (Luke xxiv. 37 to 41.) It is evident, therefore, that the BLESSED JESUS rose from the grave with the same identical body of flesh and bones, which had been laid in the grave, and which might still be handled and seen, consequently that His resurrection-body was not mere spirit, for He says, a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have; and this idea is further confirmed by what He says to Thomas on the occasion, Reach hither thy fin ger, and behold My hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless but believing, (John xx. 27,) from which words it is manifest that the hands and the side of the LORD's resurrection-body were still the same, and in the same perforated state, as when the body was deposited in the tomb.

Q. What then do you conceive to have been the peculiar quality of the LORD's resurrectionbody, as distinguished from the bodies of men and of angels?

A. It is perhaps out of the reach of finite intelligencies fully to comprehend what was the precise quality of the LORD's body at the resur

rection, This only we know of a certainty, that it was derived entirely from the DIVINITY in Himself, and that no particle of it was derived from the mother Mary, for the body which He had from the mother Mary, was successively put off, until He became no longer her Son, as was shown above, in treating of the miracle of water turned into wine at the marriage of Cana of Galilee, on which occasion JESUSs calls His mother, Woman, thus intimating that He was no longer her Son, but was by nativity as well as conception the SON OF GOD. The body then, in which the BLESSED JESUS appeared after His resurrection, had an immediate divine origin, being formed successively from a divine soul, and thus partaking of divine qualities, which completely distinguished it from all other bodies, whether of men or of angels. Perhaps DIVINE SUBSTANTIALITY is the most characteristic term by which the distinction can be marked, so that whilst the body of a man is called material, and the body of an angel, spiritual, the resurrection-body of the LORD may be fitly and properly called a DIVINE SUBSTANTIAL BODY.

Q. And what do you conceive further to have been the quality of the LORD's body after the resurrection, as distinguished from its quality when He was alive in the world?

A. By the passion of the cross, which was the last temptation endured by the BLESSED JESUS, it is reasonable to suppose that a deeper humiliation of the humanity was effected, than had be, fore taken place, and thus that hereditary evil,

« PreviousContinue »