a Divine Visitation

From what a man has been it is usually safe to infer what he is.

This is eminently the case with our Lord Jesus, since he is unchangeable. What he was to his disciples in the days of his flesh, he will be to his followers at this present hour.

We gather that he loves to reveal himself to his saints when they are assembled on the Sabbath-day, for he did so when on earth.

Let us consider the visit described in the text.

Uninvited, unexpected, undeserved, but most welcome was that visit.

Jesus stood in the center to be near to them all, and that he might assume the place which a leader should take among his followers.

I. WHEN HE APPEARED.

1. When they had been acting unworthily by fleeing from him at his betrayal, and deserting him at his trial.

2. When they were unprepared, and unbelieving, doubting his express promise, and refusing the testimony of his messengers.

3. When they greatly needed his presence, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.

4. When they were exercising the little life they had by coming together in loving assembly. So far they were doing well, and acting in a way which was likely to bring blessing.

5. When they were lamenting his absence, and thus proving their desire after him. This is an admirable means of gaining his presence.

6. When certain among them were testifying concerning him.

   • Are not we in a similar condition?
   • May we not hopefully look for our Lord’s manifestation of himself?

II. WHAT HE SAID. “Peace be unto you.”

1. It was a blessing: he wished them peace.

2. It was a declaration: they were at peace with God.

3. It was a fiat: he inspired them with peace.

4. It was an absolution: he blotted out all offences which might have spoiled their peace.

   • The Lord by his Holy Spirit can calm our perturbed minds, relieve of all care, discharge from all sin, deliver from all spiritual conflict, and give to each one of us immediate and perfect peace.

III. WHAT CAME OF HIS APPEARING.

1. He banished their doubts. Even Thomas had to shake off his obstinate unbelief.

2. He revealed and sealed his love upon their hearts by showing them his hands and his feet.

3. He refreshed their memories. “These are the words which I spoke unto you”: verse 44.

4. He opened their understandings: verse 45.

5. He showed them their position. “You are witnesses of these things”: verse 48.

6. He filled them with joy. John 20:20.

   • Has the Lord come into our midst during this service?
   • Has he breathed into our souls a special peace?
   • If so, let us wait a while, and further enjoy his company, and praise his condescending love.
   • If we do not feel that we have been thus favored, let us tarry behind, and further seek his face.
   • A special meeting for praise and prayer will be held during the next half-hour. O Lord Jesus, abide with us!

Ripples

The Master’s greeting to the first company had been in the word “Rejoice!” (Matthew 28:9, 10.) His greeting to the second was in the phrase, “Peace be unto you!” And this he said twice over. (John 20:19, 21.) We should keep in mind the difference between the first company and the second. The first was a small detachment of the general society, and consisted of women only. The second was the general society itself, including all the men; and all the men had in one moment of panic forsaken their Master. In that shameful moment even John had not been an exception. The women, when Christ met them, had been true, and were only conscious of grief; the men had not been true; and, besides their grief, were conscious of deep agitation and burning shame. He knew their thoughts. Like the young Hebrew in their national story, who, years after his brethren had cast him into a pit, then sold him for a slave, met them face to face again, he as their lord, they as his supplicants, but who, that they might not fall back blasted, gently discovered himself to them in the words, “I am Joseph, your brother,” to the mention of his name eagerly adding the mention of his relation; so the Celestial Joseph, in discovering himself to those whom he had so grandly loved, but by whom he had been so basely forsaken, first sent forward by Mary the message, “Go tell my brethren,” then followed up the message by personally appearing with these words on his lips—“Peace to you!”—words meant to dispel their fear, to kindle their tenderness, and to still the tempest within them. Brothers in Christ, this message was meant for our one whole family.—Charles Stanford.

There are depths in the ocean, I am told, which no tempest ever stirs; they are beyond the reach of all storms, which sweep and agitate the surface of the sea. And there are heights in the blue sky above to which no cloud ever ascends, where no tempest ever rages, where all is perpetual sunshine, and nothing exists to disturb the deep serene. Each of these is an emblem of the soul which Jesus visits; to whom he speaks peace, whose fear he dispels, and whose lamp of hope he trims.—Tweedie.

In the life of Dr. John Duncan there is a touching passage, which relates how much he suffered from religious melancholy. His mental struggles were often very distressing, casting a shadow over his whole life and work. On one occasion, he went to his college-class in a state of extreme dejection. During the opening prayer, however, the cloud passed away. His eye brightened, his features relaxed, and before beginning his lecture he said, with pathetic sympathy, “Dear young gentlemen, I have just got a glimpse of Jesus.”

We are the soldiers of Jesus Christ. Now, that which nerves the soldier’s arm, and strengthens his heart, as he goes forth to battle, is not so much the multitude of the army of which he forms a part, as the character of the chief whom he is following. It is related that, in one of the Duke of Wellington’s battles, a portion of the army was giving way, under the charge of the enemy, when he rode into the midst of them. A soldier called out in ecstasy, “There’s the Duke—God bless him! I’d rather see his face than a whole brigade;” and these words, turning all eyes to their chief, so reassured his comrades that they repulsed the foe; they felt, he is beside us who was never defeated yet, and who will not be defeated now. A military friend, with whom I conversed on this subject, said that, though he had never heard the anecdote, he could well conceive it to be true: the presence of the distinguished General, he added, was at any time worth five thousand men.—Tait on the Hebrews.