But I make known to you, brethren, the glad tidings which I announced to you, which also ye received, in which also ye stand;
by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I announced to you as glad tidings, unless indeed ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered to you, first of all, that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures;
and that He was buried; and that He was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures;
and that He appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve.
Then He appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the most remain until now, but some also have fallen asleep.
Then He appeared to James; then to all the apostles;
and last of all, as to an abortion, He appeared to me also.
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.
But by God’s grace I am what I am; and His grace which was towards me has not been vain, but I have laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Whether, therefore, I or they, thus we preach, and thus ye have believed.
I composed the first discourse, O Theophilus, concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach,
until that day in which, having by the Holy Spirit given charge to the apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up;
to whom also He presented Himself living, after He had suffered, with many proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God.
And having assembled with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye have heard of Me.
For John indeed baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit, after now not many days.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that it is Thou who hast drawn us. It is Thou who hast opened a way to Thyself for us.
We do come in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and we know we are in Thy presence. This is holy ground. We do desire to remove our shoes and wait upon Thee. Listen to what Thou hast to say to us. Speak, Lord; Thy servants hear. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
We have been considering for some time the life of our Lord Jesus. We do believe that it is God’s will, the Father’s delight, that we should focus on His Son. So this morning we will continue on the life of our Lord Jesus, on this matter of His appearing after His resurrection and before His ascension.
The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, tells us that he announced to them what he had received from the Lord and delivered to them first of all—that is, of first importance—the following things:
In other words, here you find four important things: His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His appearing. He said it is on these that we stand. This is the gospel. This is the glad tidings on which we stand and by which we are saved.
His death is essential to our salvation because He bore our sins in His own body. We receive forgiveness of our sins by the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross.
His burial is essential because, by His burial, our old man was finished and buried out of sight. His resurrection is important because, by His resurrection, He gives us a new life. And His appearing is important because, by His appearing, He shows us a new way of living.
His death was according to the Scriptures; His resurrection was according to the Scriptures. His burial reinforces His death, and His appearing strengthens His resurrection. Now, brothers and sisters, it is on these four that we have the essentials of the gospel, the foundation on which we stand.
I think we know more or less of His death, of His burial, and of His resurrection, even though there is so much more that we need to know. But it is as if we neglect completely His appearing. We do not make much of His appearing, and yet Paul tells us that these are the four things of importance that constitute our glad tidings.
So this morning, we would like to concentrate our meditation on the appearing of our Lord Jesus.
Our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, but He did not publicly ascend to God immediately. Between His resurrection and His public ascension, there were forty days.
Now, that does not mean that during those forty days He never ascended. It is true that when He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, He said, “Do not touch Me, because I have not ascended to My Father.” Yet a little while later, He allowed the other women to touch His feet. So we are sure that He must have ascended during that short period, even though His public ascension did not happen until forty days later.
As a matter of fact, in resurrection there is no such thing as time or space. When our Lord was in His physical body, He was limited by time and space, as we all are. If He was in Jerusalem, He was not in Galilee.
He was born in Nazareth, and when He grew to maturity, He travelled around to preach the gospel. He was restricted by time and space. But after He was resurrected, He took up a spiritual body. In other words, He is now in the Spirit.
He has transcended time and space. He is no longer bound by time or space. He is everywhere. He is always present.
A brother once said that in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, it is no longer a matter of coming and going; it is simply a matter of appearing and disappearing. In other words, it is only a matter of being seen or unseen.
He is always here. He is living, and He lives forevermore. But if you have faith, you see. If you do not have faith, you do not see. But it does not mean that He is not here, because He is everywhere. He is ever-living, living forever. That is resurrection.
And yet, for forty days, He appeared to His disciples before His public ascension. Now, forty in the Scriptures has a very special meaning. Whenever you see forty, you know that it symbolises testing. It is a time of testing.
The first mention of forty days and forty nights is in Genesis 7: the rain came down forty days and forty nights in the flood. Moses went up to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and the pattern of the tabernacle. He was there forty days and forty nights. Then he went up again forty days and forty nights after the two tablets were broken, and he received anew the Ten Commandments.
We remember the spies who went to spy out the land for forty days. We remember Elijah: by the heavenly food, he walked forty days to Mount Sinai. And we remember Jonah, who went to Nineveh and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”
Our Lord Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights, being tempted and overcoming. Here you find that after He was raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples during those forty days.
So here you find it is a time of testing. He is testing His disciples. He is bringing His disciples from that which is physical into that which is spiritual, out of that which is earthly into that which is heavenly.
So far as we know from the Word of God, He appeared a number of times during those forty days.
Immediately after He was raised from the dead, He appeared to Mary Magdalene because of her intense love for the Lord. His message to her was, “Do not touch Me; I have not ascended to My Father yet. But go, tell My brethren that I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”
Immediately afterwards, He met the other women—Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna—and He allowed them to touch His feet. He said, “Fear not. Go and tell My brethren that they see Me in Galilee, as I have told them before.”
You remember two disciples. They were so disappointed, so puzzled, that they left Jerusalem on their way to Emmaus. One of them was Cleopas. While they were talking about what happened in Jerusalem, Jesus walked with them, but they did not know Him.
How our Lord Jesus opened their understanding of the Scriptures! When our Lord expounded the Scriptures to them concerning Himself, how their hearts were warmed. After they arrived at Emmaus, they urged our Lord Jesus to stay with them. When they had supper, the Lord broke the bread, blessed it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognised the Lord; but He disappeared.
They went back to Jerusalem. When they came to the house where the other apostles and others were gathered, they said, “The Lord hath appeared to Simon.”
We do not know what happened during that appearance. It was so private that it was not recorded. But I believe that in that appearance our Lord restored Peter completely.
While they were talking, suddenly the Lord appeared and said, “Peace be with you,” and showed them His hands and His feet. He breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”
Thomas was not there. Thomas said, “Unless I put my finger in His wounds, I will not believe.” A week later, in the evening, Thomas was there, and suddenly the Lord appeared, though the doors were shut. His spiritual body is not limited by time, space, or material things.
The Lord appeared to them and said to Thomas, “Here are My hands. Put your finger here and see.” And Thomas said, “My Lord and my God.”
In John 21, we are told that seven disciples, apostles, were in Galilee. Peter said, “I go fishing. I have nothing to do. I go fishing.” The others said, “We go with you.”
They went fishing, but they caught nothing through the night. In the morning, our Lord was standing on the shore and asked, “Children, have ye anything to eat?” They answered, “No.” The Lord said, “Cast your net.” Then they caught all those fish.
John said, “It is the Lord.” They could not recognise Him at first, but John understood. Peter threw himself into the water and went to the Lord.
There you find that our Lord Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love Me more than these? Do you love Me? Are you really attached to Me?” I believe that during that appearance the Lord restored Peter before his companions and commissioned him to shepherd His sheep.
We are told that at one time our Lord appeared to above five hundred brethren. I personally believe it must have been on the mountain in Galilee, where the Lord said, “I will meet you in Galilee.” They went to Galilee, to that mountain, and the Lord met them. It was there that the Lord gave them the Great Commission, as we find in Matthew 28.
After that, the Lord appeared to James, His brother in the flesh. You remember that His brethren in the flesh did not believe Him before His death. But after His crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and appearing to James, the whole family turned to the Lord.
Then He appeared to the apostles. I believe that refers to the Mount of Olives, when our Lord Jesus ascended from their midst. One hundred and twenty believers saw Him ascend, and they were given the command to return to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, that they might receive power from on high to be His witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.
These are the recorded appearances of our Lord Jesus during those forty days. Of course, Paul, in writing, said, “Last of all, He appeared to me also”—Paul, as one born out of due time, because he was not fit to be an apostle; and yet the Lord appeared to him.
Now, these are the facts of His appearances. Brothers and sisters, what did He do during these forty days of appearing? What did He teach during these forty days? Why are these forty days important to us today?
First of all, I believe His appearing was to revitalise the faith of His disciples.
When our Lord Jesus was arrested, His disciples scattered. After He was crucified and buried, they were in mourning and in fear. They shut themselves in the house. Even when the news came to them from the women that the Lord was risen, they could not believe it.
They were weeping, mourning, in fear, and in unbelief. Their faith was challenged, wavering, weak. It took the appearing of the Lord to revitalise their faith.
Today, when we talk about resurrection, probably we do not have the same feeling as the disciples of old. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus is the first case of real resurrection. Even though in the Old Testament there were people raised, and in the New Testament our Lord Jesus raised people from the dead, these were not real resurrections.
Those who were raised from the dead were still in their mortal bodies, and they still died afterwards. But with our Lord Jesus, His resurrection is the first case of real resurrection.
What is resurrection? Resurrection is going into death, overcoming death, coming out of death, and living forevermore. That is resurrection.
Our Lord Jesus is the first One who was able to enter into death, rob death of its power, come out of death, and live forever. Never before had such a thing happened.
So we cannot blame the disciples. They just could not believe that our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. It took the appearance of our Lord Jesus to convince them that His resurrection was real.
Even though He could come through the walls, His resurrection was real. He is real. He is not a ghost, not a spirit, but a real Person. He has flesh and bones, but not material flesh and bones. He has no blood. There will be no decay. He is in a spiritual body, but He is real: a real Person, living, unbounded, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. That is our risen Lord.
Gradually, through His appearances, this dawned upon the disciples. They realised that He was really risen from the dead. What a glorious thing it is! He is now Lord of all. He is now living forever. He is now all-powerful. He has overcome death and everything.
That restored their faith. They changed; they were transformed from mourning to joy, from fear to courage. It was because of the appearing of the Lord to them, to show them who He really is.
As He testified of Himself in Revelation 1, He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. He is the Living One. He has gone into death, and He is alive and lives forevermore, and holds the keys of death and Hades.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is the testimony of Jesus. This is the living Christ. By His appearing, this was assured and reassured to the apostles. No wonder there was such a transformation going on with these disciples. I believe this is the first reason for His appearing.
Brothers and sisters, do we really believe that our Lord Jesus is alive? Do we really believe that He is here, everywhere? Do you really believe that, no matter where you are, there He is with you? He has never left you. He is always there with you. He is not limited by time and space anymore.
You have Him all the time. Many times you do not see Him. Many times you think He is not there. Many times you think He is far away from you. It is because you do not see Him by faith.
If you have faith, you can see Him all the time, everywhere, in every situation in your life, because He is the Living One, the Resurrected One. He is there with you. He is ever-present. All you need is to see Him by faith.
Do you really believe He is the Resurrected One? He is the all-powerful One. He has overcome everything, even death, the greatest power on this earth. Is there anything that He cannot do? Do you really believe that is the Christ?
How we need to be assured that this is the Christ in whom we believe.
Secondly, His appearing is important because He demonstrates to us a new way of life.
When our Lord Jesus was in the flesh, He was with the disciples, alongside them, taking care of them. When He told them that He was leaving, they were grieved because He was a comfort to them.
Yet our Lord Jesus said, “I go, but I will send you another Comforter, and He will be with you forever, because He will be in you.”
When our Lord was in the flesh, sometimes He was with the disciples; sometimes He sent the disciples away. Sometimes He was alone on a mountain to pray. But they would come back and seek Him and touch Him, to know that He was there.
But here our Lord Jesus showed them that it was no longer that way. He is with them all the time. He brings them into receiving the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, I personally believe it was on the day of His resurrection that He gave to us the indwelling Holy Spirit, another Comforter that He had promised.
You remember our Lord Jesus in John 14-16, in His last conversation with His disciples. He told them, “I am going, but I will send you another Comforter”—another of the same kind, just as He is. But there is a difference: “I am a Comforter with you, but He is a Comforter in you.”
The Holy Spirit will come and dwell in you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is there in you to teach you all things. He will glorify Christ and reveal to you all that is His.
Brothers and sisters, this happened during His appearance to His disciples on that evening, when He breathed into them the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Lord was showing them that from then on their life with Him was entirely on a different level.
It was no longer on the physical level of being alongside; it was now on the spiritual level. It is Christ in you.
They were to live a life in the Spirit. They were no longer to live a life in the flesh. They were no longer to seek things according to the flesh, but now they were to live a life in the Spirit. Let the indwelling Holy Spirit teach them, show them Christ, and enable them to learn Christ inwardly.
It is a spiritual life. Brothers and sisters, our Christian life is a spiritual life. A Christian life is an inner life; it is not an outward walk. It is an inner life. It lives from within. We live by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We learn to obey the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
It is not by people telling us what to do. It is not by rules and regulations. Our problem in Christianity today is that we live outwardly. We try to become Christians outwardly. We are given rules and regulations, and if we keep these rules and regulations, then we are good Christians. We are under law, not under grace.
But brothers and sisters, in the appearing of our Lord Jesus, the Lord showed them how He lived in the Spirit, and He wanted His disciples to live in the Spirit by the indwelling Spirit. This is spiritual life.
Even today, when we seek the Lord, we try to seek Him outwardly, just like the disciples. They wanted to touch Him.
Why is it that the Catholic Church has images? Even though they say, “No, we are not worshipping these images. These are just helping us to arouse within us a devotion to God,” they need these outward things to touch God. This is no longer the way.
Today, you find such teaching of visualisation. You try to visualise Christ: “Oh, Christ comes. He touches you and embraces you.” By doing so, you think you are near to God. Brothers and sisters, it is no longer true.
This is another way in which our Lord Jesus is leading us. He is leading us to walk in the Spirit, not to try to visualise, not by touch, by taste, by feeling, or even by smell. People even today say they smell Christ.
Not by these things. It is inwardly, in the Spirit, that you touch Him. You know He is there. He is teaching you. He is guiding you. He is leading you. He has never left you. He has never forsaken you. He is ever-present with you. Brothers and sisters, this is a new way of life.
This is a new relationship. He said, “I go to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. Tell My brethren.” He gives us a new relationship.
When our Lord Jesus was in the flesh, He tried to share with His disciples and with the Jews that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. But they could not believe it. How can the Father be in Him, and He in the Father?
You cannot be in me, and I cannot be in you. We can stand side by side, but how can one be in the other? It is impossible. They could not believe it. Even the disciples could not believe it.
The Lord tried to tell them again and again, “If you do not understand it, at least believe the works that I do. By the works that I have done, you know the Father is in Me.” But still they could not believe it, because an inward relationship is beyond human concept.
But it is true. The Father is in Christ, and Christ is in the Father. They are one. The Father and the Son are one. There is an inward relationship, unbroken.
The world does not understand. Even the disciples did not understand. But the Lord said, “In that day, ye shall know: I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” What is that day? That day is the day of His resurrection.
After He was resurrected, they knew that He is in the Father, we are in Him, and He is in us. How do we know? It is because the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
In other words, our relationship with the Lord is an inward relationship. He is the Vine; we are the branches. There is a oneness there that cannot be broken. Because of this, we need to abide in Him, and He abiding in us, we will bear much fruit.
Brothers and sisters, our relationship with the Lord is an inward relationship, not an outward relationship. Any outward relationship can be broken, but an inward relationship cannot be broken. We are in Him, and He is in us.
How do we know Him? We know Him no longer according to the flesh. You remember the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. He said, “We no longer know Him according to the flesh. If ever we knew Him according to the flesh, we know Him so no longer.” We know Him in the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, if you want to know the Lord Jesus, you have to know Him in the Spirit. Or, to put it another way, we need to know Him by the revealing of Him by the Spirit in our spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to our spirit.
This is the only true spiritual knowledge. Aside from this, our knowledge is not true, even our mental knowledge of the Word of God. Yes, it is letter, and the letter kills; it is the Spirit that quickens.
Of course, we need to know the letter. If you do not know the letter, how can you judge the spirit? But knowing the letter alone is not true knowledge. You do not really know Him. It is only by the Holy Spirit revealing His Word to our spirit that we have the true knowledge of God.
We know one another no longer according to the flesh. Brothers and sisters, in the past we knew each other in the flesh, by outward appearance and by our contact. But now we no longer know each other in the flesh; we know each other in the Spirit—that is, in Christ.
We see Christ in each other. We do not seek Adam, or evil, in each other. Our relationship is on a spiritual basis. That is the reason why there is no distinction of race, social status, educational background, or whatever distinction there may be. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
This is a new way of life. This new way of life is demonstrated by our Lord in His appearing, and He is leading us into that new way of life. This is what His appearing does for us.
Thirdly, what did our Lord Jesus teach during those forty days? We are told in Acts 1 that He was seen by His disciples after His suffering, and He proved to them that He is living. He taught them the kingdom of God.
What was our Lord preaching? What did He preach? He preached the kingdom of God, but they did not understand.
You remember Pilate: “Art Thou the King of the Jews?” The Lord said, “My kingdom is not of this world. I came into this world for this reason: that I should bear witness to the truth.” Without waiting for an answer to his question, “What is truth?” Pilate went away.
The Jews at that time did not understand Him when He talked about the kingdom. “Where is it? Where is the kingdom? When is the time that You will overturn the Roman yoke, deliver us, and revive the nation of Israel?” They could not understand what He preached.
Even His disciples could not understand Him. He preached to them, He talked to them, He taught them the kingdom of God.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
They heard, and yet they did not understand. Even at the very last, you find the apostles striving against each other over who should sit on His right hand and on His left. They thought He was going to Jerusalem to be crowned. They did not understand.
Their concept was earthly, materialistic. They could not rise above what is earthly and what is material.
Now the Lord Jesus, after He was resurrected, continued to preach and teach His disciples on the kingdom of God. Was it a new teaching? No—the same old teaching, but with a new atmosphere and a new environment.
The Lord was not teaching them in the flesh. When He taught them in the flesh of the kingdom of God, which is heavenly, they could not understand. But now He was teaching them in the Spirit.
He demonstrated to them what the kingdom of God is. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is where God reigns and rules. He reigns and rules in our hearts. The kingdom of God is not to be seen with eyes. It is where Christ reigns in our hearts. There is the kingdom of God.
Now, with a new environment, hopefully the disciples understood a little better.
The apostles took up this matter of the kingdom of God in their preaching. On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the eleven, and what did he preach? His conclusion was, “Let all the house of Israel know that this Jesus whom ye have crucified, God hath made Him both Lord and Christ.”
He is Lord. He is the King. Those who repented were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. In other words, they submitted themselves under His authority, to let Him be Lord over their lives. This is the kingdom of God.
When you come to the end of the book of Acts, Paul, in his hired house in Rome, preached the kingdom of God and taught the things concerning the Lord Jesus.
The gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all nations, and then the end shall come.
Brothers and sisters, today are we preaching what our Lord Jesus preached after His resurrection? Are we preaching what the apostles preached in the book of Acts?
Today we overemphasise the gospel of grace, and we underemphasise the gospel of the kingdom. We tell people that Jesus is our Saviour, who died for our sins and who saves us. But we do not tell them that Jesus is Lord. He is Master. He is Sovereign. He is Majesty. We need to surrender our lives to Him.
That is the reason why Christianity is weak. This is why our Christian life is so weak. This is why the church is weak, because the church is built by the gospel of the kingdom of God.
We need to preach that gospel of the kingdom of God. We need to tell people that Jesus is not only Saviour; He is Lord. We need to prepare for His coming.
We are not talking about dominion theology or reconstruction theology. Some of you may have heard of this. Today there are people talking about dominion theology and reconstruction theology, saying that we Christians are to convert the world and bring the world to the feet of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, we are not sent to convert the world. We are sent to overcome it. The world will not be converted; it will get worse.
But when we preach the kingdom of God, out of every nation, every people, every tribe, and every tongue, God is to call out a people unto Himself, under His name and under His authority, that He may reign and rule as supreme in our lives.
When this is done, He will come back to judge the world and bring the world under His feet. Brothers and sisters, it is important for us to understand that we need to preach the kingdom of God.
Finally, it was during the appearing that He gave us the Great Commission. He gave the church the Great Commission before He ascended to heaven.
What is the Great Commission? In Matthew 28, the Lord said:
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,
baptising them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you:
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
The Great Commission that is given to the church is more than just evangelising. It is true that in Luke 24 the Lord commanded the disciples to go and preach repentance and remission of sins. But it is more than that. It is to disciple all nations.
When you think of discipling, it simply means to bring people under Christ—not only to Him, but to get under Him.
Why, after one believes in the Lord Jesus, must he be baptised? Baptising them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—why is believing not enough?
You must be baptised because by being baptised, you are baptised into His name. In other words, you give up yourself. You allow Him to be your Head. You belong to Him. You take Him as your Lord.
You submit yourself to Him. You become His disciple. You allow Him to teach you, to transform you, to mould you, to fashion you according to His image. You are made part of all that He has.
Brothers and sisters, this is discipleship. Discipleship is discipling to Christ, not discipling to any man. Discipling to Christ: to learn of Him, that you may be like Him. As He is, so shall you be. This is our Great Commission.
Have we fulfilled our commission? Are we faithful to what the Lord has committed to us? All these things happened during those forty days of His appearing.
Brothers and sisters, you may not have a personal appearance of the Lord in your life, but at least what you find in the Scriptures of His appearances—His story, all that He has done and said during those forty days of appearing—is all for you.
It is for you to see Him as the Living One, who is ever-present and almighty. Have you such a living Christ? You live because He lives.
It is for you to understand that He has given you a life—an inward life, a spiritual life—to live. You are to live that life in an inward way. Your relationship with Him is not physical; it is spiritual. Your relationship with your brothers and sisters is spiritual, not physical.
We are to live by faith, not by sight. We are to live in the Spirit, not in the flesh. This is the way that He has demonstrated to us and led us into. This is the way we should live.
Brothers and sisters, we also need to know more of the kingdom of God: how it is a spiritual, heavenly kingdom. It is hidden today among His own people, and one day it will publicly appear on this earth.
But before that time, it is our responsibility to disciple nations, to bring people under the authority of Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, these are the things that we need to receive, stand on, and by which we are saved. Shall we pray?
O Lord Jesus, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou didst not only die for us on Calvary’s cross for our sins. Thou wast buried, that we might be put out of sight. Thou wast raised from the dead, that we might receive a new life. And Thou didst appear to us, that we may know how to live.
Lord, we just pray that Thou wilt use these feeble words to bring us into the reality of what Thine appearing has taught us. In Thy holy and precious name, Amen.