DECEMBER 1, 1906 the matter: one may have counted from the time the first gun was fired, another from a period of the general engagement, or what not. No one thinks of questioning the fact that there was a battle of Waterloo because of these divergent statements respecting the time it began. So with the matter of our Lord’s resurrection, the fact that the different records of it are not in the same language militates nothing against the fact as a fact. All agree that the resurrection took place on the first day of the week (Sunday) following the Passover, early in the morning. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the mother of James the Less and of Joses, were there (Matt. 27:56), and Mark and Luke tell us that shortly afterward came Salome the mother of John, Joanna the wife of Chuza, and other women, who brought spices for a more thorough embalming of the Lord’s body than was possible on the night of our Lord’s burial, on account of the lateness of the hour and the approach of the Passover. The earthquake had already rolled away the stone, the sentries had fled in terror from the manifestation of the angel’s presence—they fled to the high priest, who probably had engaged to be their paymaster—having them detailed for a special police duty by Pilate. But the angel, so terrible to those out of harmony with the Lord, spoke graciously to those who were his friends, assuring them that Jesus was risen, and directing them to go quickly and tell his disciples, also assuring them that Jesus would go into Galilee, and intimating a general meeting of his friends there, which later took place. En route they met Jesus, who sent the same message to his disciples. Seemingly the Lord recognized that woman can exercise faith more readily than can man, and here he used them as his servants and mouthpieces to bear his _message—to prepare his disciples, to assist them more readily to accept the truth of his resurrection, Meantime the affrighted guard fled and told the circumstances to the prominent elders who had set them their task and who were probably special enemies of our Lord. They were assured that their work would be considered satisfactory if they would keep the facts to themselves or report that Jesus’ disciples had stolen the corpse. They gave them a handsome present for their codperation in this matter and assured them of protection should their conduct ever be called in question. ELEVEN APPEARANCES AT MOST For forty days our Lord was with his disciples before his ascension, yet he revealed himself to them, according to the records, not more than eleven times in all—and some of these instances are probably duplications. His interviews with the disciples lasted but for a few moments cach, and were surrounded by circumstances and conditions which said to them in thunder tones that a great change had occurred to him—that he was no longer the same being, although he evidently had the same loving interest in them as before. He was still their Lord and Master, this same Jesus, although no longer Jesus in the flesh, He was ‘‘the Lord, that spirit,’’ a ‘‘quickening spirit.’? To bring the matter more clearly before our minds let us note the records covering these manifestations or appearances, as follows: ON THE DAY OF THE RESURRECTION (1) Sunday morning early—to Mary Magdalene—near the sepulchre at Jerusalem—Mark 16:9; John 20:11-18. (2) Sunday morning—to the women returning from the sepulchre—near Jerusalem.—Matt. 28:9, 10. (3) Sunday—to Simon Peter alone~—near Jerusalem.— Luke 24:34. (4) Sunday afternoon—to the two disciples going to Emmaus—between Jerusalem and Emmaus.—Luke 24:13-21. (5) Sunday evening—to the apostles excepting Thomas— at Jerusalem.—John 20:19-25. ZION’S WATCH TOWER Vou. XXVIT ALLEGHENY, PA., DECEMBER 15, 1906 (383-387) All five of these were on the first day, the resurrection day, the remaining six appearances being scattered through the remaining thirty-nine days of our Lord’s presence, as follows: THE NEXT SUNDAY—THE EIGHTH DAY (6) Sunday evening, a week after the resurrection—to the apostles, Thomas being present—at Jerusalem.—John 20 :26-29. Following this was a long interval apparently in which there was no appearance whatever, and the disciples, discouraged, perplexed, resolved to go back to their homes in Galilee and there to reéngage in the fishing business, considering that the Lord and his mission had been a failure. Our Lord evidently expected just such a process of reasoning on their part, and his delay was undoubtedly to help them over the difficulty and to start them afresh as servants of the kingdom of God on a higher and still grander plane than their previous ministries had been—under the ministration of the holy Spirit. APPEARANCES IN GALILEE Quite probably three weeks intervened without the slightest communication. Meantime the apostles had reéngaged in the fishing business, when our Lord appeared to them on the shores of Galilee. (7) As a stranger on the shore Jesus called to seven of his disciples who were fishing—John 21:1-13. (8) Shortly after the manifestation on the shores of Galilee Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee.—Matt. 28:16-20. (9) Very shortly after this he again appeared to a general company of his followers gathered together by previous appointment, ‘‘above 500 brethren at once’’—in Galilee.— 1 Cor. 15:6. LAST APPEARANCES IN JERUSALEM (10) At the close of the forty days our Lord appeared to the Apostle James only, probably at Jerusalem.—1 Cor. 15:7. (11) At the end of the forty days our Lord appeared to all of the apostles at the time of his ascension. This was at the Mount of Olives—Luke 24:50, 51; Acts 1:6-9. It was years after this that Paul wrote, ‘‘Last of all he was seen by me also, as of one born before the time.’’ He was seen of the other apostles as the gardener, as a stranger, as the Crucified One, etc., etc. but when Paul, the last of the apostles, saw him it was not so, but as we shall see him by and by when we are changed to his likeness—he saw him as one of premature birth. The church of the first-born are at the resurrection changed to be like their I.ord and see him as he is. Any special revelation of the Lord might have been withheld from the Apostle Paul until the same time except that it was necessary that the apostles should be ‘‘witnesses,’’ testifiers to the fact that Christ had not only died but had also risen from the dead; and in order that Paul as an Apostle might thus testify he was granted the vision of the glorified one. He saw him as we shall see him in that he saw him in the brightness of his excellent glory and not as the others, veiled in the flesh. Thank God that the time is not far distant when, those who sleep in Jesus having been changed to his image, we who are alive and remain shall also be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, to be made like him, to see him as he is, to share his glory. Not all in the same moment, but each in his own moment, changed instantly—until gradually, thus being changed by passing from death to life, the full number of the very elect shall be completed and the reign of glory shall begin. No. 24 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER NEW MOTIVES AND METHODS IN FOREIGN MISSIONS | As general doubt begins to overshadow the Bible and its teachings, many intelligent people begin to wonder whether or not there is any future life. Decrying the Bible as the work of man, all higher critics and evolutionists are thrown upon the resources of their own judgment respecting the future, and they are very conscious that their intelligence on the subject is a large blank—a guess. Rejection of the doctrine of eternal torment as the punishment for sin, and the supposition that that doctrine is taught in the Scriptures, was the foundation for their scepticism, which now has spread so that their entire faith has been undermined, and what Jesus said of the Samaritans of old is true of them, “Ye believe ye know not what.’’—John 4:22. The religious instincts of man lead him to some kind of worship, aud a desire to serve his God in some manner, whether that god be a stick or a stone or the sun or the true God. Hence Christian people of various shades of faith and doubt, have during the past century contributed liberally for mission work under the stimulating thought that the poor heathen were going into death at the rate of 90,000 a day without a knowledge of the only name given under heaven and amongst men whereby men must be saved. But now as doubts become confirmed and faith weakens there is a slacken [3905]
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