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THE KING’S BUSINESS
guard, nor chance to escape if they did) while we slept” (how could they know that if they “ slepf’ f ) . "This saying is com monly reported among the Jews to this day’’ —and on to this one. And not among Jews only. The arguments against the res urrection all resolve themselves into one, viz., Fraud. (1) A F ancy : the witnesses fancied that they saw the Lord, “A halucinated woman gave the world a risen God.”^—Renan. (2) A F antom : they saw, but it was the ghost, the disembodied Spirit of Jesus. (3) A F raud : the disciples stole the body and lied about it. This is all one thing—Fraud. (1) A F ancy : the senses lied; (2) A F antom : the Spirit of Jesus lied to make them think Him risen; (3) the disciples lied. If these theories are true our moral judgment ’lies, for nothing could be more evident than the “heavenliness” of the Scripture that records the facts, and the sanity and honesty of the apostles who witnessed them and to them. IV. T he D octrinal S ignificance of the R esurrection .
risen” ). “ Go . . . tell his disciples (that are ;—that dazed and drooping, wolf-hound ed and “ scattered flock,” that their Shepherd is risen and calling;—His disciples that shall be —that forlorn multitude sadly mov ing to that country "whence no traveler re turns” ) and Peter (see that you do not for get Peter! nor the most lingering back slider whose harp hangs on the willows,« whose wistful, tearful soul sits “hoping against hope” ) he goeth before you (yes;) as He led He leads you still,—Matt. 28:20) . . . there shall ye see him (1 Cor. 15:6 ).” And so He has gone before us into' glory, there shall, we see H im (1 John 3:2). III. T he J ewish L ie . 1. The Soldier’s Report. They told the elders what had happened (Matt. 28:11). Their lives were forfeit for a lapse of vigi lance. The thing must come out. Their hope was to anticipate it, and tell the facts to the principals in the case. They had ground for hope. The supernatural events would surely convict the elders of their er ror and dispose them to exonerate the guard. But n o !— 2. The Elders’ Incorrigible Wickedness. T o punish the soldiers would be to publish the facts! By bribery they had betrayed the dying, by bribery they resolved to be tray the risen Christ. "They gave large money (it costs more to get rid oi Christ risen—demonstrate—than unrisen. Let us attack skeptics with the resurrection and all antecedent facts are easily defended) . . . saying, Say ye, His disciples stole him away (they would not, for they did not expect Him to rise till the “last day [John 11:24 ]; they could not, for they had neither courage, nor force, to overcome the Roman
The three fundamental facts of redemp tive, and secular history are the I ncarna tion , the C rucifixion , and the R esurrec tion . The first made possible the second,4 and the third certifies the fact o f the first and the efficacy of the second (Rom. 1:4; 4:25). The resurrection guarantees to us a living Saviour; an acceptable and able Mediator; a Man to realize the Word of Prophecy, the terrestial destiny and, not least, but consequential, the restoration and participation of redeemed humanity to and in the kingdom “ under the whole heaven” that shall not pass away (Dan. 7:13, 14). LESSON XIH-December 13. — -T h e G reat C o m m i s s io n . —Matt. 28:16-20; Luke 24:44-49. G olden T ext .— Lo, I am with you alway, I. C ertifying the M essage . 1. Nature of the Gospel. The Great Com and to the end of the world. —Matt. 28:20. seal of both the truths and the facts;: and itself so extraordinary that the testimony of numerous and credible witnesses, them selves examples of its moral and spiritual effects, could alone authenticate it. mission is the evangelization of the world. The contents of the Gospel are doctrinal and historical. The resurrection is the
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