HE SHOWED HIMSELF

 

“He showed himself alive after his passion by many in­fallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things

pertaining to the kingdom of God.”   (Acts 1:3)

 

What wondrous things occurred during the forty days, when to His own He showed Himself alive! How their hearts must have burned within them while He opened to them the Scriptures, and gave them the revelation of the LIVING CHRIST! How natural, how easy were His manifestations! How noise­less the footsteps of Omnipotence! He meets Mary in the early morning, just as in times past, and calls her by name. He greets those beloved fishermen, who had forsaken their nets to follow Him, and for these weary all-night toilers He prepared a simple meal on the shores of Tiberias. He joins the two downcast disciples on the Emmaus road on the Sabbath afternoon, and when He heard them saying, “We trusted that it had been He who would have redeemed Israel,” He answered their doubts by a revelation of Himself and that special revelation made them “witnesses of these things.” What definite testimonies they bore ever afterwards! Oh, the glory of His Living Presence!

 

In every age, a testimony has been left by people in every rank of having found themselves in awe and rapture in His radiant Presence! Beginning with Peter, James and John on the mount of Transfiguration, and John again on the isle of Patmos and we, too, may know the shining Presence. “Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age!”

 

Oh, that our eyes were opened to behold the riches of the glory of our inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of His power, which was wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead!

 

The power of the Christian believer lies in the Savior’s triumph of eternal Glory!  Christ’s resurrection brought about a startling change of direction for believers.  Sadness and fear marked the direction before they knew Jesus was raised from the dead.  When they heard the angelic witness, “He is risen, as He said,” the direction immediately shifted away from the tomb.

 

Thankfully, the resurrection morning was only the beginning of a great, vast outreach that has never ended, and will not end until “the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas” as God has promised!

                                                                               ~ Selected ~