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THE KING’S BUSINESS
that was quite unnecessary, but for the wo men to get in. 'The keepers were struck with terror; well they might be, they were fighting against God, while the angel was representing God. His angelic character appeared in his external appearance which was as the lightning, and the glory within shone through his very garments, making them white as snow (cf. ch. 17:2 R. V.) The angel sitting calmly upon the stone which the enemies of Christ had sought to make so secure (ch. 27:62-66), but which he had easily rolled.away is a picture of the easy and complete triumph of God over Satan and all his hosts. His dazzling glory and white garments give us a suggestion of the overwhelming splendor and immacu late purity of heaven and its inhabitants. A terror like that which struck the keepers of the tomb shall some day strike all enemies of Christ. Sunday, May 16. Matt. 28:5-10. The women, too, were frightened but there was no need for them to be frightened and to them the angel uttered God’s con stant message to His saints, “Fear not.” Then soon followed one of the gladdest messages that this old world ever heard, “H e is not h er e ; for H e is r ise n .” They had gone to find a crucified Friend, but in stead they found a risen Saviour. “Come,” said the, angel, “see the place where the Lord lay” : the women were first to see for themselves, then go and tell; definite ex perience must precede effective testimony. The women might naturally have wished, to linger about the sepulchre where their Lord’s body had so recently rested and where so great a wonder had so recently been enacted, but the commission comes, “Go quickly and tell His disciples.” It will not do for us to linger too long at the place of personal blessing, we should go forth speedily and witness to others. The wo men obeyed him promptly and heartily. “They departed quickly from the tomb . . . ran to bring His disciples word.” Now Jesus Himself appears. Before they
had the angelic message but now they have Jesus Himself. When we believe the mes sage, God’s Word about Jesus, and obey His command to tell it out, the next thing Jesus Himself will meet us (cf. Is. 64:5). The women fell at His feet, laid hold upon Him in rapturous ecstasy, and “worshiped Him.” Anyone who really meets Him with an eye clear enough to see who He really is will worship Him (Heb. 1 :6). Others have not worshiped Him either because they never met Him or else their eyes are too blind to recognize who He is (1 Cot. 2:14; 1 John 2:22). These were remarkable sleepers; they: knew what was going on while they were asleep, and undertook to testify to what took place while their eyes were closed in slumber (vs. 13-15). Not very valuable testimony, but it is as good as those who deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ are able to produce. The modern deniers of His resurrection are driven to similar ex- . tremities to account for the unquestionable facts. For example, Renan tries to explain the facts by saying, “The passion of a hal lucinated woman gives to the world a resur rected God.” Pretty heavy task that for the “passion of a.hallucinated woman” to perform. “The passion of a hallucinated woman” might suffice to convince a poetic, erratic mind like Renan’s, but it would make small headway against the stubborn, prosaic unbelief of a Thomas, or the thor ough-going inquisitiveness of a Jew tax- gatherer like Matthew. David Strauss tries to explain the facts by imagining that the alleged appearances of Jesus after His death were visions, but StrauSs does not explain how eleven men, and 500 men, came to have -the same vision at the same time. The fact is, the very desperate straits to which those who are unwilling to admit the fact of the resurrection of Christ are driven in their attempts to account for the facts which Monday, May 17. ' Matt. 28:11-15.
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