John xx. 21 — 23. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you : as my Father hath sent me, even so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost : ivhose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
IT is not easy to conceive what disappointment our Lord's Disciples must have felt, when they found that he was dead upon the cross, and committed to the silent tomb. " They had expected that he was the person who should redeem Israel :" and the wonder- ful works which he had done, had appeared to justify that expectation3: but, behold, his enemies had pre- vailed against him, and the hopes which they had entertained were altogether frustrated. But our blessed Lord left them not long in this disconsolate condition. He soon gave them evidences that he was risen from the dead. To some he appeared on the morning of his resurrection : and " in the evening of that day" he came to them all, whilst they were assembled, with closed doors, for fear of the Jews ; and both spake peace to their troubled minds, and renewed to them the commission which he had given them to preach his Gospel to the world ; enduing them, at the same time, with a more abundant mea- sure of qualifications for their ministry than he had hitherto conferred ; and assuring them, that all which they either said, or did, on earth, under the influence of his good Spirit, should be confirmed and ratified in heaven.
Interested as we are in the office which was here assigned them, it will be well for us to ascertain, with some precision,
I. The measure of inspiration given them —
The commission which the Apostles now received
a Luke xxiv. 19—21.