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idle story about ghosts and apparitions is foolish and unreason- able. But we must take care that we do not go into the other extreme, and deny the existence of spirits altogether. Our Lord's words about them are clear and unmistakeable.
41. — [Believed not for joy.] Poole remarks, ** If they had not be- lieved now, they would doubtless not have rejoiced, for faith was the cause of their joy. Yet the excess of their joy was the hinderance of their faith. So dangerous are the excessive motions of our affections ! "
{Any meat] The Greek word so rendered, means literally " anything eatable, any food." The English word " meat," at the time when our version of the Bible was last revised, did not mean " flesh " exclusively, as it does now.
43. — [Did eat before them.] The speculative questions raised on this circumstance, about the capacity of our Lord's resurrection body really to eat and really to drink, are most improfitable and Tain. Let it suffice us to believe that it was a real eating and drinking, and not a mere optical delusion, or apparent eating and drinking, as some have ventured to insinuate. We need not inquire further. That it was so, Peter's words in another place appear to prove plainly. (Acts x. 41.) The same remarks apply to the eating of the angels who appeared to Abraham. (Gen. xviii. 8.)
Our Lord's manner of dealing with the disciples in this pas- sage ought to be carefully remembered. He appeals to their senses, and allows them to satisfy their senses of the reality of His risen body. He even implies that if their senses had not been satisfied they might fairlv and justly doubt whether His body had risen. This mode of arguing strikes a blow at the Ilomish doctiine of transubstantiation, and the Lutheran doc- trine of consubstantiation, in the Lord's supper. When our senses deteot no change in the substance of the bread and wine, it is monstrous and unreasonable to require us to believe that any change has taken place in them after the act of consecration.
LUKE XXrV. 44—49.
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, ^irhile I was yet with vou, that all things most be fulfillea, which were ^rritten in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, con- cerning me.
45 jhen opened he their under- standing, 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 remis- sion 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 oe endued with power from on high.
516 KZFOSnORT THOUGHTS.
Let us obeerve, firstly, in these yerses, the gift which our Lord bestowed on Sis disciples immediate^ before He left the world. We read that He '^ opened their nnder^ standings that they might understand the Scriptures."
We must not misapprehend these words. We are not to suppose that the disciples knew nothing about the Old Testament up to this time, and that the Bible is a book which no ordinary person can expect to compre- hend. We are simply to understand that Jesus showed His disciples the full meaning of many passages, which had hitherto been hid from their eyes. Above all. He showed the true interpretation of many prophetical pas- sages concerning the Messiah.
We all need a like enlightenment of our understand- ings. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- cerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) Pride, and prejudice, and love of the world blind our intellects, and throw a veil over the eyes of our minds in the reading of the Scriptures. We see the words, but do not thoroughly understand them until we are taught from above.
He that desires to read his Bible with profit, must first ask the Lord Jesus to open the eyes of his under- standing by the Holy Ghost. Human commentaries are useful in their way. The help of good and learned men is not to be despised. But there is no commentary to be compared with the teaching of Christ. A humble and prayerful spirit will find a thousand things in the Bible, which the proud, self-conceited student will utterly fail to discern.
hVKE, CHAP. XXIV. VBR. 44 49. 517
Let us observe, secondly, in these verses, the remark- able manner in which the Lord Jesm speaks of His own death on the cross. He does not speak of it as a misfortune, or as a thing to be lamented, but as a necessity. He says,*' It " behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again the third day." . The death of Christ was necessary to our salvation. His flesh and blood offered in sacrifice on the cross were "the life of the world." (John vi. 51.) Without the death of Christ, so far as we can see, God's law could never have been satisfied, — sin could never have been pardoned, — man could never have been justified before God, — and God could never have shown mercy to man. The cross of Christ was the solution of a mighty diflSculty. It untied a vast knot. It enabled God to be "just, and yet the justifier " of the ungodly. (Rom. iii. 26.) It enabled man to draw near to God with boldness, and to feel that though a sinner he might have hope. Christ by suffering as a Substitute in our stead, the just for the unjust, has made a way by which we can draw near to God. We may freely acknowledge that in ourselves we are guilty and deserve death. But we may boldly plead, that One has died for us, and that for His sake, believing on Him, we claim life and acquittal.
Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ. Let us regard it as the source of all our hopes, and the foundation of all our peace. Ignorance and unbelief may see nothing in the sufferings of Calvary but the cruel martyrdom of an innocent person. Faith will look far deeper. Faith will see in the death of Jesus the payment of man's enormous debt to God, and the complete salvation of all who believe.
518 BXFOmORT THOUGHTS.
Let OS obserrey thirdly, in these verses, whai were the fint tnUhs which the Lord Jesus bade Sis disciples preach after he left the world. We read that '* repentance and remission of sins'' were to be preached in His name among all nations.
'' Repentance and remission of sins " are the first things which ought to be pressed on the attention of every man, woman, and child throughout the world. — ^All ought to be told the necessity of repentance. All are by nature desperately wicked. Without repentance and conversion, none can enter the kingdom of God. — ^All oi:^ht to be told God's readiness to forgive every one who believes on Christ. All are by nature guilty and condemned. But any one may obtain by faith in Jesus, free, full, and im* mediate pardon. — ^All, not least, ought to be continually reminded, that repentance and remission of sins are in* separably linked together. Not that our repentance can purchase our pardon. Pardon is the free gift of God to the believer in Christ. But still it remains true, that a man impenitent is a man unforgiven.
He that desires to be a true Christian, must be experi* mentally acquainted with repentance and remission of sins. These are the principal things in saving religion. To belong to a pure Chureh, and hear the Grospel, and receive the sacraments, are great privileges. But are we converted ? Are we justified P If not, we are dead before God. Happy is that Christian who keeps these two points continually before his eyes ! Repentance and remission are not mere elementary truths, and milk for babes. The highest standard of sanctity is nothing more than a continual growth in practical knowledge of these two