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THE KING’S BUSINESS
pf the Lord Jesus. These acts are them selves teachings; we learn, not merely from what Jesus taught, - but even more from what He did and from how He lived. It is to be noted that what He did, in Luke’s summary o f his own book, is put before what He taught. Many today look upon our Lord Jesus simply as a great teacher, one who taught the truth, but we should never lose sight o f the fact that while He taught the truth, He was the Truth (John 14:6), and to know the truth we need not only to study His teachings but to study Him. Important as it is that we get His teachings, it is even more important that we know Himself, and know. God, not merely as revealed in what He taught, but in what He did and was. Having com pleted His doings and His teachings, He was “ received up.” Just how He was re ceived up we will see further down in the lesson. Just before His ascension, or His being “ received up,” the Lord Jesus gave commandment to His disciples. It does not appear quite so clearly in the English of either the Authorized or Revised Version that Luke here refers to commandments given just before His ascension, as it -does in the Greek. What these commandments given just before His ascension were we learn from Matt. 28:19, 20; Mark 16:15-19; Luke 24:45-49; (ch. 10:40-42). Though these commandments were given after His resurrection from the dead, they were still given in the power o f the Holy Spirit. This fact, recorded in verse 2, puts great honor upon the Holy Spirit, and wonderfully emphasizes the importance o f His work. Some would have us think (that it was only during His humiliation and earthly life preceding His resurrection that our Lord wrought and taught in the Holy Spirit, but this passage distinctly tells us that He taught, or gave, commandment “through the Holy Spirit” even after His resurrec tion. How clear it is then, that if there is to be any wisdom and power in our teaching, that, we too must) teach in the Holy Spirit. - Luke in the second verse in four short words sets forth the high office filled by the Apostles and by them alone,
by speaking o f them as the ones “ whom He (i.e., the Lord Himself) had chosen.” The word “chosen” is a very strong word, it means chosen out, i.e., chosen out o f the whole body o f mankind. The Apostles stand absolutely apart from all other human beings; they were chosen out o f the whole race to be the ones through whom our Lord should communicate by. the Holy Spirit His full truth to.the rest o f mankind (cf. John 16:12, 13). v. 3. To-whom also fie shewed (rather, presented ) Himself alive after His pas sion,, by many infallible proofs, appearing speaking of the things~concerning the king dom of God.” . The all-sufficient proof' that our Lord Jesus really arose from the dead was that He actually appeared to His Apostles “through forty days” (this is the literal translation o f the Greek words ren dered merely “ forty days” in the Author ized Version, and “by the space o f forty daya” in the Revised Version) after His death. Our Lord’s appearances were not merely upon the first day o f the week fol lowing His crucifixion, but from time to time through a period covering forty days in all. “Forty days” throughout the Bible is the period o f thorough testing (Deut. 9:9, 18; 1 Kings 19:8; Matt. 4:2 ). Faith, in our Lord’s risurrecfion does not rest merely upon the testimony o f one person, e.g., Mary Magdalene, as to a vision she had, or thought she had, o f Him, as some o f those who deny His resurrection would have us believe. It rests upon repeated’ appearances not to one, but to many. There is no fact o f history more fully proven than the actuality and reality o f the bodily- resurrection o f our Lord. This fact so- clearly proven is the foundation for all Christianity, it carries with it every funda mental truth of the Christian system, and our belief in all distinctively Christian doc trines is not the result o f speculation regarding the matters with which it has; to. do, but it rests upon proven historic facts. In the Authorized Version we are 'told that it was “by many infallible proofs” that Jesus showed Himself alive after His suffering. In the Revised Version the word
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