Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/17

Rh the cloud: if we would know what came of him then, we may find, (Dan. 7. 13.) That one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him in the clouds as he came near before him.

V. The disciples, when he was gone out of their sight, yet still continued looking up steadfastly to heaven, (v. 10.) and this longer than it was fit they should; and why so?

1. Perhaps, they hoped that Christ would presently come back to them again, to restore the kingdom to Israel, and were loath to believe they should now part with him for good and all; so much did they still dote upon his bodily presence, though he had told them that it was expedient for them that he should go away. Or, they look after him, as doubting whether he might not be dropped, as the sons of the prophets thought concerning Elijah, (2 Kings 2. 16.) and so they might have him again.

2. Perhaps, they expected to see some change in the visible heavens, now upon Christ's ascension, that either the sun should be ashamed, or the moon confounded, (Isa. 24. 23.) as being out-shone by his lustre; or rather, that they should shew some sign of joy and triumph; or perhaps they promised themselves a sight or the glory of the invisible heavens, upon their opening to receive him. Christ had told them, that hereafter they should see heaven opened; (John 1. 51.) and why should not they expect it now?

VI. Two angels appeared to them, and delivered them a seasonable message from God. There was a world of angels ready to receive our Redeemer, now that he made his public entry into the Jerusalem above: we may suppose these two loath to be absent then; yet, to shew how much Christ had at heart the concerns of his church on earth, he sent two of those that came to meet him, back to his disciples, who appear as two men in white apparel, bright and glistering; for they know, according to the duty of their place, that they are really serving Christ, when they are ministering to his servants on earth. Now we are told what they said to them,

1. To check their curiosity; Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? He calls them men of Galilee, to put them in mind of the rock out of which they were hewn. Christ had put a great honour upon them, in making them his ambassadors; but they must remember that they are men, earthen vessels, and men of Galilee, illiterate men, looked upon with disdain. Now, say they, "Why stand ye here, like Galileans, rude and unpolished men, gazing up into heaven? What would ye see? You have seen all that ye were called together to see, and why do ye look any further? Why stand ye gazing, as men frightened and perplexed, as men astonished and at their wits' end ?" Christ's disciples should never stand at a gaze, because they have a sure rule to go by, and a sure foundation to build upon.

2. To confirm their faith concerning Christ's second coming. Their Master had often told them of that, and the angels are sent at this time seasonably to put them in mind of it ; "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, and whom ye are looking thus long after, wishing ye had him with you again, is not gone for ever, for there is a day appointed, in which he will come in like manner thence, as ye have seen him go thither, and ye must not expect him back till that appointed day." (1.) "This same Jesus shall come again in his own person, clothed with this glorious body; this same Jesus, who came once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, will appear a second time without sin, (Heb. 9. 26, 28.) who came once in disgrace to be judged, will come again in glory to judge. The same Jesus, who has given you your charge, will come again to call you to an account, how you have performed your trust; he, and not another," Job 19. 27. (2.) "He shall come in like manner. He is gone away in a cloud, and attended with angels; and behold, he comes in the clouds, and with him an innumerable company of angels? He is gone up with a shout and with the sound of a trumpet, (Ps. 47. 5.) and he will descend from heaven with a shout and with the trump of God, 1 Thess. 4. 16. Ye have now lost the sight of him in the clouds and in the air; and whither he is gone, ye cannot follow him now, but shall then, when ye shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." When we stand gazing and trifling, the consideration of our Master's second coming should quicken and awaken us: and when we stand gazing and trembling, the consideration of it should comfort and encourage us.

12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath-days' journey. 13. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper-room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

We are here told,

1. From whence Christ ascended; from the mount of Olives, (v. 12.) from that part of it where the town of Bethany stood, Luke 24. 50. There he began his sufferings, (Luke 22. 39.) and therefore there he rolled away the reproach of them by his glorious ascension, and thus shewed that his passion and his ascension had the same reference and tendency. Thus would he enter upon his kingdom in the sight of Jerusalem, and of those undutiful ungrateful citizens of his, that would not have him to reign over them. It was prophesied of him, (Zech. 14. 4.) That his feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, shall stand last there; and presently it follows, ''The mount of Olives shall cleave in two. From the mount of Olives he ascended, who is the good Olive-tree, whence we receive the unction'', Zech. 4. 12. Rom. 11. 24. This mount is here said to be near Jerusalem, a sabbath-day's journey from it, that is, a little way; no further than devout people used to walk out on a sabbath-evening, after the public worship was over, for meditation; some reckon it a thousand paces, others two thousand cubits; some seven furlongs, others eight. Bethany indeed was fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, (John 11. 18.) but that part of the mount of Olives which was next to Jerusalem, whence Christ began to ride in triumph, was but seven or eight furlongs off. The Chaldee paraphrast on Ruth 1. says, We are commanded to keep the sabbaths and the holy days, so as not to go above two thousand cubits; which they build upon Josh. 3. 4. where, in their march through Jordan, the space between them and the ark was to be two thousand cubits. God had not then thus limited them, but they limited themselves; and thus far it is a rule to us, not to journey on the sabbath any more than in order to the sabbath-work; and as far as is necessary to that, we are not only allowed, but enjoined, 2 Kings 4. 23.

2. Whither the disciples returned; They came to Jerusalem, according to their Master's appointment,