For forty days after the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, He
appeared to His disciples numbers of times.
St. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of the First of Corinthians,
gives us a list of the times that Jesus appeared. And the list is
very wonderful. He says: "For I delivered unto you first of all that
which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures: and that He was buried, and that He rose again the
third day according to the scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas
(Peter), then of the twelve: after that, He was seen of about five
hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this
present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, He was seen of James;
then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also."
St. Paul referred to the time when he had seen Jesus, and He had spoken
to him on the way to Damascus.
The Lord did not live on this earth in those forty days as He had done
before, but He was "the same Jesus" Who had been with them throughout
His ministry. The same, and yet different. Now in His blessed hands and
feet were the marks of the cruel nails of the cross. In His side was
the wound which the soldier's wanton spear had made! And the Lord now
came in and out among them with a Presence which was quite different
from what they had known before, for He came to them when doors were
shut and fastened, and He left them without passing through those
doors; He simply vanished out of their sight.
The first evening of that Resurrection Day, when the disciples were
assembled with closed doors for fear of the Jews, suddenly the Lord
stood in their midst and said "Peace be unto you." And when He had said
this, He showed them His hands and His side.
How very glad the disciples must have been when they saw that their
Lord was alive!
But Thomas was not with them when Jesus came that time; and when,
afterwards, the others told him that they had seen the Lord, he said
to them: "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and
put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His
side, I will not believe!"
Jesus was not present when Thomas said all that, but He knew all about
it, as you will see.
Eight days after, the disciples were again together in that upper room
where they assembled, and Thomas was with them.
Then, though the doors were fast shut, Jesus came again and stood in
the midst of them, and again He said "Peace be unto you."
Then He turned at once to Thomas, and said to him: "Reach hither thy
finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it
into My side: and be not faithless, but believing.
"And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God!
"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast
believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
And the Apostle John ends that wonderful account with these words: "And
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples,
which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing, ye might have life through His Name."
The forty days that the Lord was going in and out among His disciples
was nearly over. We read in the first chapter of the Acts the account
of the last talk that the Lord had with them.
He had been explaining many things to them about the Kingdom of God,
and telling them that they were to stay in Jerusalem till the Holy
Spirit was sent down to them, which God the Father had promised when
Jesus went back to Heaven.
[Illustration: AT PENTECOST.]
The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and He is here with God's people
now. It is He who whispers in our hearts and checks us if we do wrong.
It is He who tells us about Jesus, and helps us to understand His
forgiving love, and all He has done for us by His life and death.
We should pray earnestly that God would give us more of the Holy
Spirit's presence and comfort.
The Lord told them that they were to be His witnesses all over the
world, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins were to be preached
in His Name among all nations.
Then He led them out as far as Bethany, which is just over the brow of
the hill called the Mount of Olives.
And as they stood together there, He blessed them, and while He blessed
them and they were looking at Him He was taken up, and a cloud received
Him out of their sight.
"And while they looked stedfastly towards heaven as He went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven."
[Illustration: AND WHILE HE BLESSED THEM, HE WAS TAKEN UP . . . OUT OF
THEIR SIGHT.]
And it is this promise which should cheer us all in these dark days.
St. Paul calls it "that blessed Hope, the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ!"
May we all be ready to welcome Him when He comes!