T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1937
64
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and my God,” was the first clear declara tion of the Lord’s deity to be given after the resurrection (v. 28). Had our Lord been only a good man, to preserve His own honesty, He would have rebuked Thomas. But instead of rebuking him, Christ ac cepted the adoration as His right. Address ing Thomas, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast be lieved: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (v. 29). We are tempted sometimes to envy the first dis ciples who saw the Lord and had fellow ship with Him while He was on earth. But the teaching of the Word is that our blessing is richer and fuller than theirs, because we walk by faith (v. 29). III. R emoving P resumption (21:20-24) With his natural impulsiveness, Peter, after his public restoration following his denial of the Lord, asked, “What shall this man do?” (v. 21)— referring to the disciple who had leaned on Jesus’ bosom at the Last Supper. Our Lord did not then, nor does He now, satisfy mere curiosity; in stead, He asserted His sovereignty over all disciples (vs. 20-22). Peter’s one business was to follow the Lord (v. 22). “ Follow thou me” is the word for every disciple of Christ. We are prone to ally ourselves with some human leader who has been signally blessed by the Lord, forgetting that the Lord alone is the Leader and Guide. The path of one individual is not the path of another; each redeemed one has his own peculiar place assigned by the Lord, and no other believer can occupy that place and perform the work which that place requires. The Lord’s command is a clear call to obedience— personal obedience— “ Follow thou ME.” With the natural tendency to arrive at conclusions without mature thought, the dis ciples supposed that Jesus meant John would not die, but would remain on earth until the Lord should come again (v. 23). This verse is a clear declaration of the certainty of our Lord’s return, but it is also a reminder that the time of His coming is hidden from us. The truthfulness of the things written in John’s Gospel is attested (v. 24). The disciple who wrote of them was familiar with the events which had transpired, and the Holy Spirit caused them to be recorded for our learning. What ground for confidence we have ! Points and Problems 1. “ The first day of the week” (John 20:19). Not by any legal command, but by His acts, our Lord set the stamp of His divine approval upon the day that the early church set apart for worship. On that day He arose; on that day He ap peared; on that day He gave the disciples His great commission, and on that day He conferred spiritual power upon them. 2. “ When the doors were shut . . . the doors being shut” (vs. 19, 26). It is strange that various commentators have tried to evade the plain intent of these statements recorded by the Apostle John. Even Calvin thought that they were somehow opened miraculously to admit the Lord, though there is absolutely nothing in the text to warrant such a hypothesis. John was there in the room, a very observant man, and he
TRUTH ABOUT W INE: 10-page beautifully printed folder explains the 13 original Hebrew and Greek Bible words for wine, removing con fusion ; gives scientific facts; the real thing for preachers, teachers, students, workers; only 30c dozen; $2.00 a hundred postpaid in U. S., 3c stamps or M. O. Free paper included. Pacific States Presa, Los Gatos, Calif. recorded two facts: first, that Jesus entered the room; and second, that He entered “when the doors were shut.” Why not believe the testimony of one who was there? 3. "H e showed unto them his hands and his side" (v. 20). This statement proves that the body which passed through closed doors and entered the room was not merely an apparition, or a spirit, but the very body which had hung on the cross and which had been pierced by the Roman spear. Its ability to pass through the material bar riers shows that some miraculous change had taken place, giving to the body new qualities and attributes, yet that body was not a new creation but the Lord’s own body. How wonderful to know that some day we shall be like Him! 4. “M y Lord and my God” (v. 28). Uni tarian and modernistic expositors have endeavored to move heaven and earth, figuratively speaking, in order to escape the plain meaning of these words. Some have taken them as an exclamation of praise addressed to the Father. But note that the words were definitely spoken “ unto him” (Jesus). Other men have actually regarded the words as an exclamation of profanity! Against this ridiculous view note the gentle commendation of our Lord in verse 29. It is clearly evident that the words of Thomas were accepted by our Lord as true expression of genuine Christian faith. With any other view these words become blas phemy, and as such would have been soundly rebuked. In a cemetery at Hanover, Germany, there is a grave on which great slabs of granite and marble were piled, cemented together and fastened with steel clasps. It is the grave of a woman who did not be lieve that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, nor that she nor any one else would live again after death. In her will she ordered her grave to be made secure so that if there were a resurrection of the dead, it could not reach her. On the stone these words were engraved: “This burial place must never be opened.” A little seedf however, chanced to be covered over by the stone, and, beginning to grow, it tried to find its way to the light. You would not think a little growing plant could wrench those steel clasps from their sockets and burst the cemented stone slabs, but it did. That little seed has become a full-grown tree, and the great stones have fallen over to give it room. Caiaphas and other enemies of Jesus thought that when the tomb in which His body had been laid was made secure, it could not be opened, but the power of God that worked through a little seed in Han over worked in a more marvelous way to open that tomb near Jerusalem.— 1,001 Illus trations for Pulpit and Platform, by Webb. Golden Text Illustration R e v e la t io n 1:17, 18
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