§ CCXXX.

CHAP. XXIV. 1-12.

Christ's resurrection is declared by two angels to the women that come to the sepulchre. These report it to others.

Now "upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, * bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

с

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3 "And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye 'the living among the dead?

6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,

7 Saying, The Son of man

must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

k

11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.

12 'Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

a Mat. xxviii. 1. Mark xvi. 1. John xx. 1.-6 ch. xxiii. 56.-c Mat. xxviii. 2. Mark xvi. 4.-d ver. 23. Mark xvi.

5.- John xx. 12. Acts 1. 10.-1 Or, him that liveth.-f

Mat. xvi. 21; & xvii. 23. Mark viii. 31; & ix. 13. ch.

ix. 22.-g John ii. 22.- Mat. xxviii. 8. Mark xvi. 10.i ch. viii. 3.—k Mark xvi. 11. ver. 25.- John xx. 3, 6.

See & XCV.

Matthew XXVIII. 1-10.

§ CCXXXI.

CHAP XXIV. 13-35.

Christ himself appeareth to the two

disciples that went to Emmaus.

13" And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

14 And they talked together

23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.

24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

26' Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

27 * And beginning at "Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

31 And their eyes were

opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

m Mark xvi. 12.-n Mat. xviii. 20. ver. 36.-o John xx. 14: & xxi. 4.-p John xix. 25.-q Mat. xxi. 11. ch. vii. 16. John iii. 2; & iv. 19; & vi. 14. Acts ii. 22.-r Acts vii. 22.-s ch. xxiii. 1. Acts xiii. 27, 28.- ch. i. 68; & ii. 38. Acts i. 6.- Mat. xxviii. 8. Mark xvi. 10. ver. 9, 10. John xx. 18. ver. 12.-y ver. 46. Acts xvii. 3. 1 Pet. i. 11.-z ver. 45.-a. Gen. iii. 15; & xxii, 18; & xxvi. 4; & xlix. 10. Num. xxi. 9. Deut. xviii. 15.-6 Ps. xvi. 9,

10: & xxii; & cxxxii. 11. Is. vil. 14; & ix. 6;

that should redeem Israel, and erect the kingdom so much promised and predicted in the Scripture. They could not tell how to reconcile the ignominy of his death with the grandeur of his office, and glory of a king. And, though they had heard by the women of a vision of angels that assured them he was alive, yet they do not seem in their discourse to give any credit to the report, but relate it as they heard it; though both by what they said before, verse 21, "That they had trusted that it was he that should have redeemed Israel," and also by the sharp reproof Christ gives them, verse 25, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken," we may conclude, that they thought it a mere illusion, or groundless imagination of the women. -CHARNOCK.

Then said he unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe, &c.-Christ, to rectify their minds, begins with a reproof, and follows it with an in

Ezek. xxxiv. 23; & xxxvii. 25. Dan. ix. 24. Mic. 20. Mal. iii. I; & iv. 2. See on John i. 45.-c See

Gen. xxxii. 26; & xlii. 7. Mark vi. 48.-d Gen. xix. 3.

Acts xvi. 15.-e Mat. xiv. 19.- Or, ceased to be seen of them. See ch. iv. 30. John viii. 59.-ƒ 1 Cor. xv. 5.

READER.-Two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, &c.-Christ came unknown to them, while they were discoursing together of the great news of that time, namely, the death of their master, whom they acknowledge a "prophet, mighty in deed and word before God, and all the people," ver. 19, confirmed by God to be so by miracles, and confessed to be so by the people. Yet they questioned whether he were the Messiah

ground to question the truth of his office, and the reality of his being the Messiah, was rather an argument to confirm and establish it; since that person, whose character was foretold in the Old Testament to be the Messiah, was to wade to his glory through a sea of blood, and such sufferings in every kind as cruel and shameful, as that person, in whom they thought they had been deceived, had suffered three days before; and afterwards, discourseth from the Scripture, that his death, and such a kind of death, did well

agree with the predictions of the prophets, and therefore, "Beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." He might well sum up in two or three hours time (wherein we may suppose he was with them) most of those testimonies which foretold his sufferings for the expiation of sin. The proposition which he maintains from Moses and the prophets, is in the text, "Ought not Christ to have suffered those things?" which is laid down by way of interrogation, but is equivalent to an affirmation; and he backed, without question, his discourse with many reasonings for the confirmation of it; to reduce them from the distrust they had to a full assent to the necessity of his death, in order to his own glory, and consequently theirs; the foundation of his own exaltation, and the redemption of mankind being laid in his being a sacrifice.CHARNOCK.

He

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?—It is said, "he ought;" not an absolute but a conditional "ought." Not his original duty as the Son of God, but a voluntary duty as the Redeemer of man. voluntarily engaged at first in it, and voluntarily proceeded to the utmost execution; yet necessarily after his first engagement. Necessity there was, but not compulsion. All necessity doth not imply constraint, and exclude will. Paul must necessarily die by the law appointed to all men, but willingly he "desires to be dissolved, and to be with

Christ." God is necessarily holy and true, yet not unwillingly so. Angels and glorified souls are necessarily holy by their confirmation in a gracious and glorious state, yet voluntarily so by a full and free inclination. Necessary by the decree and counsel of God, necessary by the predictions and prophecies of Scripture. All which causes of necessity are linked together, because the restoration of man required such a suffering; therefore it was from eternity decreed by God, embraced by Christ, published in Scripture. It was ordained in heaven, and set out in the manifesto of the Old Testament; so that if this death had not been suffered, the counsel of God concerning redemption had been defeated; the word and promises of Christ violated, and the truth of God in the predictions of the prophets had fallen to the ground. The decree of God was declared in many prophecies before the execution, and this will of God is an evidence of the necessity of it. Why did he ordain it, if it were not necessary to so great an end? Though the end, the redemption of man, was not necessary, yet when the end was resolved on, this, as the means, was found necessary in the counsel of God. The natural inclination and will of Christ, as man, did startle at it, when he desired that this cup might pass from him. It was contrary to the reason and common sense of men; how then should that infinite wisdom which wills nothing but what is unquestionably reasonable, have determined such a

means, if it had not been necessary for his own glory, and man's recovery? But both the Father and the Son were moved to it by the height of that good will they bore to the fallen creature. "These things." Every one of those severe and sharp circumstances. The whole system of those sufferings; not a dart that pierced him, not a reproach that grated upon him, but was ordained every step he took in blood and suffering, was marked out to him. Since Christ was to die for the reparation of man, for the expiation of sin; it was necessary that his death should be attended with those particular sharpnesses that might render his love more admirable, the justice of God more dreadful, the evil of sin more abominable, and the satisfaction itself more valuable. The intenseness of his love had not been set off so amiably in a light and easy death, as in a painful and shameful suffering. And though the greatness of his merit, and the fulness of his satisfaction, did principally arise from the dignity of the suffering person; yet some consideration might be also had of the greatness of his suffering not only his death, as he was considered equal with God, but his shameful death in the circumstance of the cross, is a mark of obedience and a cause of his exaltation, Phil. ii. 8. Both were regarded in the crown of glory, and that high dignity wherein he was instated. So that the sum of Christ's speech amounts to thus much: Be not doubtful whether the person

:

so lately suffering, whom you account so great a prophet, were the Messiah. You clearly may see in the prophets, that nothing hath been inflicted on him, but what was predicted of him. So that it is not merely the malice of man that hath caused those sufferings; that was only a means God in his infinite wisdom used, to bring about his own counsel. He was not forced to what he suffered, but willingly delivered up himself to perform the charge and office of a Redeemer, which could not else have been accomplished by him. And that glory which you expected, was not by the order of God to be conferred upon him, till he abased himself to such a passion. He will have a glory to your comfort, though not answering your carnal expectations. Be not dejected, but recover your hopes of redemption, which you seem to have lost, and let them be rectified in the expectation, not of an earthly, but a heavenly glory.-CHARNOCK.

And to enter into his glory.-His exaltation therefore, was a necessary sign that he had fulfilled righteousness, and disarmed justice, conquered death and hell, and opened the gates of heaven; since he suffered as our surety, his glory would manifestly be conferred on him because he so suffered, and therefore it would respect our interest; and though by the efficacy of his death, had he only risen again, we had been freed from those torments that remain after death; yet had he not been glorified in heaven, we could not have been restored to the happiness of that Paradise we had lost,