THINGS CONNECTED WITH CHRIST RISEN
[p. 263] THINGS CONNECTED WITH CHRIST RISEN
These verses bring out several great and blessed things which are characteristic of christianity. Not that christianity was really established till the Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost, but the things which are spoken of in this scripture are characteristic of christianity.
The death of Christ is the great basis on which christianity rests; everything for us begins from His death. This is what the apostle John meant when he said, “This is he that came by water and blood” (1 John 5: 6). He does not there speak of His incarnation, but of His death. All true christian blessing is based on the death of Christ; all starts from there.
In the scripture I have read we find Him “after he had suffered”. Many pious people adore the Lord in His pathway here and their hearts follow Him with intense interest to the foot of the cross, as they say, and there they seem to lose sight of Him. Such souls find great comfort in the thought that He died for them as poor sinners, but they do not really apprehend Him as the risen One; they have a measure of relief, but do not know divine rest and peace. We find here that “he presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs”.
It is right that we should dwell on the suffering of Christ. It shows what the world is as a system, and what man is as a fallen creature. The exceeding wickedness and darkness of man’s heart was manifested by the way we treated that blessed One. He had done us nothing but good, but we nailed Him to a cross. Perhaps you think they were worse than we are? Beloved friends, do not make any such mistake. The same wickedness and enmity against God is in all [p. 264] our hearts. Why did not I help to drive those nails? If I had lived at that time and in that place I might have been one of the very men to do it. I am wicked enough to do it.
Then again the darkness of man came out at the cross as well as his wickedness. There was full witness to that blessed One when He was here. All His words and works showed who He was. He was the Lord of glory, perfect, lovely, acceptable to God in every way, God’s beloved Son, but men would not have Him. The world knew Him not and His own received Him not. Perhaps you say, ‘But what about the little company who did receive Him?’ Well, beloved friends, think of what came out in that company when tested. One betrayed Him, another denied Him, and all forsook Him. On man’s side there was nothing but an utter breakdown.
But on His side what perfect grace and love! His presence here exposed the wickedness and darkness and weakness of man, but we may be sure that God would never have sent Him merely to expose this. He came to remove it all in the way of atonement. The black tide of man’s wickedness rose to its flood, but it was met by the deep, full, glorious tide of divine grace, love and sovereign mercy. Christ suffered for sins and bore the condemnation of man as a creature full of the poison of sin. All that there was on our side — sins, defilement, curse, death — was taken up and borne by Him. Every question has been raised and settled in divine righteousness and love to the glory of God. Then what remains? Christ remains, the risen One. “He presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs”.
Then there was another thing. Christ brought all the blessing of God into this world in His own Person, but the disciples had to learn that the blessing that was in Him could not be transferred to man in the flesh, in whom there was nothing but sin. Christ had to go into death to remove that man sacrificially from before God. The disciples “hoped that he was the one who is about to redeem Israel” (Luke 24: 21). They looked for divine blessing to be brought into the [p. 265] present order of things. Men would like to link up Christ with themselves for the improvement and elevation of what they are as in the flesh. But this cannot be; man after the flesh must be removed in death, and in Christ’s death he is removed from before God.
The world rejoices to get rid of Christ. “Ye shall weep and lament, ye, but the world shall rejoice; and ye will be grieved, but your grief shall be turned to joy ... ; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one takes from you” (John 16: 20, 22). When they saw Him alive from the dead, showing Himself by many infallible proofs, they had Him in a new and eternal character. No doubt it was most blessed to go about with Him and hear His gracious words and see His mighty acts, but that did not meet the question of sin or of death or remove the curse. But Himself alive after His suffering is the proof that all these things have been dealt with to the glory of God. If you look at that risen Man you will see what can never crumble away — all the blessings of God’s grace and the thoughts of His love established in One who is alive for evermore. When you see Him alive after His sufferings you rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you. I put it to you, beloved friends, do you know that resurrection joy? That is the true joy of Christianity.
Now we come to another thing. The risen One was seen of them forty days, and He was “speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God” (verse 3). In Romans 14: 17 we get the moral elements that make up the kingdom of God: “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”. These are the things which have come in through the Lord Jesus Christ; they are established in Himself as the risen One. Have you righteousness? Many a believer would say, ‘I am trusting the mercy of God through Christ’. But God would have you see that He has established righteousness for you in Christ. By the grace of God we are “in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us ... righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1: 30).
[p. 266] If Christ is your righteousness is it not sufficient? Can Satan find a flaw in Christ? Can he suggest that there are questions which have not been settled?
You may think of all your failure, inconsistencies, feebleness of faith, etc., but if a risen Christ is your righteousness, all that, in a sense, disappears from view. You must either have your own righteousness or Christ. Have you any? ‘No’, you say, ‘I have none; that is why I believed on Christ; I realised that none but He could save me’. Exactly! He is your righteousness. God wants you to look upon Him, to learn Him, to grow up in Him, to rejoice in Him and never turn back to think of yourself.
“Peace”. You are brought outside the scene of disturbance and conflict. If Christ is your righteousness there is nothing to disturb from God, or from Satan, or from the world. You carry your own deep secret of peace through everything. You know God as the God of peace, and you judge yourself and apply the sentence of death to your own will.
“Joy in the Holy Spirit”. This is the joy of knowing God in grace. You find God is the Fountain of living waters, the Source of infinite bliss. He has wrapped up every blessing for you in Christ, blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, that is, in another Man, not in yourself. When you see that, you rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. God known in grace has sway in your heart, not self-interest or self-indulgence.
But perhaps there is a backslider here who says, ‘I once knew something of the joy of these things, but I have been so worldly and careless, and I am in such a bad state of soul that I cannot now find any pleasure in these things’. You seem to see a mountain of difficulty in the way of your restoration and think it is well-nigh impossible. But, dear friend, you are in a bad state of soul just because you have slipped away from all these blessed things, and therefore you have lost all power to be separate or holy. Well, go back, and begin by thanking God for His infinite grace to you. The great power [p. 267] for recovery is to get a fresh sense of the grace of God. You imagine that you must work your way back to Him by a long process of confession, etc. Go to God just as you are and you will find that His grace is as much a reality as it ever was. Thank Him for it, and in the presence of His grace and love you will see what a fool you have been, and you will most deeply judge and loathe yourself. God will see on the altar of your heart the sacrifice of a broken spirit. In thanking God for His grace you will come again under the mighty sway of that grace. God’s kingdom will be renewed in your soul.
We come now to a third thing, “the promise of the Father” (verse 4). We get the promise of the Spirit in John 14: 26; John 15: 26; and in these scriptures we see a double object to be attained by His coming. In John 14 it is the inside effect — that nothing of the knowledge of Christ should be wanting in the hearts of the disciples. The preciousness of Christ and the blessedness of all that He communicated would be kept in the affections of the saints by the Comforter. Then in chapter 15 it is the outside effect — that nothing should be lacking in the testimony of Christ.
Someone may say, ‘I am not worthy to receive the Spirit’. Of course you are not worthy, but if you would know on what ground God gives the Spirit, turn to Leviticus 14: 14 - 17. The blood was put on the tip of the leper’s right ear, etc., and then the oil (a type of the Spirit) was put upon the blood. The blood of Christ which cleanses you from all sin is the ground on which you receive the Spirit.
Acts 1: 8 is connected with John 15: 26. “Ye shall be my witnesses”. Our only business is to be Christ’s witnesses in walk and ways and word. Christian surely means ‘Christ’s one’. If Christ has got possession of us and His love holds us fast, to speak of Him will be the natural outflow of our hearts. It is not that you thrust yourself upon people, but you naturally speak as opportunity may arise of what fills your heart. It is your joy to speak of Christ. Then if Christ fills our hearts, He will give character to our lives. Our natural qualities and characteristics will get into the background and [p. 268] more of Christ be seen. We shall become heavenly luminaries in this dark world.
The disciples asked, “Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?” They were slow to give up the thought of some greatness for man here, but the Lord says, as it were, ‘No, it is not the time for Israel to be great, but for Me to be great in your hearts and in your testimony. Ye shall be My witnesses’. To make man in the flesh great is the devil’s testimony; it will culminate in antichrist who will come in his own name and be received. Man would exalt himself but God will have none exalted but Christ. Paul was in the testimony of God when he said that his expectation and hope was that Christ should be magnified in his body. John the Baptist was on the same line when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease”.
There are three other things which I can only just touch upon. “He was taken up ...” (verse 9). Christ is now in heaven and as our hearts follow Him there we become heavenly. It has been said, If you look around there is distraction; if you look within there is contraction; but if you look above there is attraction.
Then, “This Jesus ... shall thus come” (verse 11). He is coming to bring the glory of God into this world. Many Christians are eating their hearts out over the evils that are here and trying to remedy them, instead of seeing that things here cannot be put right until Christ comes from the right hand of God to do it. It is right to feel the evils of the world and the ruin of the church, but we can only judge these things rightly as we are outside it all in heart and spirit, rejoicing “in hope of the glory of God”.
Meanwhile the place of the christian company is the “upper chamber” and their occupation “continual prayer” (verses 13, 14). The disciples were outside what was of man in a religious way and they were in dependence on God. The temple was no longer the place for them, but the upper chamber. We are only passing strangers here; the “inn” of [p. 269] Luke 10: 34 is our place. The One who has brought every blessing to us is coming back, but meanwhile we are morally apart from the course of things here, outside the world even in its religious aspects. It is impossible to maintain this ground without continual prayer. May God give us grace to be found morally in the position and spirit of those who resorted to the “upper chamber”!