Matthew Henry's
Commentary on the Gospel (Luke 24:44-49)
Christ's Interview with the Apostles.
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms,
concerning me. 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might
understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and
thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of
these things. 49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you:
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on
high.
3. The insight he gave them into the word of God, which they
had heard and read, by which faith in the resurrection of Christ is
wrought in them, and all the difficulties are cleared. (1.) He refers them
to the word which they had heard from him when he was with
them, and puts them in mind of that as the angel had done (v.
44): These are the words which I said unto you in private, many a
time, while I was yet with you. We should better understand
what Christ does, if we did but better remember what he hath
said, and had but the art of comparing them together. (2.) He refers
them to the word they had read in the Old Testament, to which the
word they had heard from him directed them: All things must be fulfilled
which were written. Christ had given them this general hint for the
regulating of their expectations--that whatever they found written
concerning the Messiah, in the Old Testament, must be fulfilled in him, what
was written concerning his sufferings as well as what was written concerning
his kingdom; these God had joined together in the prediction, and it
could not be thought that they should be put asunder in the event.
All things must be fulfilled, even the hardest, even the
heaviest, even the vinegar; he could not die till he had that,
because he could not till then say, It is finished. The several parts
of the Old Testament are here mentioned, as containing each of them things
concerning Christ: The law of Moses, that is, the Pentateuch, or the
five books written by Moses,--the prophets, containing not
only the books that are purely prophetical, but those historical books that
were written by prophetical men,--the Psalms, containing the other
writings, which they called the Hagiographa. See in what various ways
of writing God did of old reveal his will; but all proceeded from one and
the self-same Spirit, who by them gave notice of the coming and kingdom of
the Messiah; for to him bore all the prophets witness. (3.) By an
immediate present work upon their minds, of which they themselves could not
but be sensible, he gave them to apprehend the true intent and meaning of
the Old-Testament prophecies of Christ, and to see them all fulfilled in
him: Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures,
v. 45. In his discourse with the two disciples he took the veil from
off the text, by opening the scriptures; here he took the veil from
off the heart, by opening the mind. Observe here, [1.] That Jesus
Christ by his Spirit operates on the minds of men, on the minds of all that
are his. He has access to our spirits, and can immediately influence them.
It is observable how he did now after his resurrection give a specimen
of those two great operations of his Spirit upon the spirits of
men, his enlightening the intellectual faculties with a divine light, when
he opened the understandings of his disciples, and his invigorating the
active powers with a divine heat, when he made their hearts burn within
them. [2.] Even good men need to have their understandings opened;
for though they are not darkness, as they were by nature, yet in many
things they are in the dark. David prays, Open mine eyes. Give me
understanding. And Paul, who knows so much of Christ, sees his need to
learn more. [3.] Christ's way of working faith in the soul, and gaining the
throne there, is by opening the understanding to discern the evidence
of those things that are to be believed. Thus he comes into the soul by
the door, while Satan, as a thief and a robber, climbs up some other
way. [4.] The design of opening the understanding is that we may
understand the scriptures; not that we may be wise above what is
written, but that we may be wiser in what is written, and may be
made wise to salvation by it. The Spirit in the word and the Spirit
in the heart say the same thing. Christ's scholars never learn above
their bibles in this world; but they need to be learning still more and
more out of their bibles, and to grow more ready and mighty
in the scriptures. That we may have right thoughts of Christ, and have our
mistakes concerning him rectified, there needs no more than to be made to
understand the scriptures.
4. The instructions he gave them as apostles, who were to be
employed in setting up his kingdom in the world. They expected, while their
Master was with them, that they should be preferred to posts of honour, of
which they thought themselves quite disappointed when he was dead. "No,"
saith, he, "you are now to enter upon them; you are to be
witnesses of these things (v.
48), to carry the notice of them to all the world; not only to report
them as matter of news, but to assert them as evidence given upon the
trial of the great cause that has been so long depending between God and
Satan, the issue of which must be the casting down and casting out of the
prince of this world. You are fully assured of these things yourselves,
you are eye and ear-witnesses of them; go, and assure the world of them; and
the same Spirit that has enlightened you shall go along with you for the
enlightening of others." Now here they are told,
(1.) What they must preach. They must preach the gospel,
must preach the New Testament as the full accomplishment of the
Old, as the continuation and conclusion of divine revelation. They must
take their bibles along with them (especially when they preached to the
Jews; nay, and Peter, in his first sermon to the Gentiles, directed them to
consult the prophets,
Acts
x. 43), and must show people how it was written of old concerning the
Messiah, and the glories and graces of his kingdom, and then must tell them
how, upon their certain knowledge, all this was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.
[1.] The great gospel truth concerning the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ must be published to the children
of men (v.
46): Thus it was written in the sealed book of the divine
counsels from eternity, the volume of that book of the covenant of
redemption; and thus it was written in the open book of the Old Testament,
among the things revealed; and therefore thus it behoved Christ to
suffer, for the divine counsels must be performed, and care taken that
no word of God fall to the ground. "Go, and tell the world," First,
"That Christ suffered, as it was written of him. Go, preach Christ
crucified; be not ashamed of his cross, not ashamed of a suffering
Jesus. Tell them what he suffered, and why he suffered, and how all the
scriptures of the Old Testament were fulfilled in his sufferings. Tell them
that it behoved him to suffer, that it was necessary to the taking
away of the sin of the world, and the deliverance of mankind from death and
ruin: nay, it became him to be perfected through sufferings,"
Heb.
ii. 10. Secondly, "That he rose from the dead on the third
day, by which not only all the offence of the cross was rolled away, but
he was declared to be the Son of God with power, and in this also the
scriptures were fulfilled (see
1
Cor. xv. 3, 4); go, tell the world how often you saw him after he rose
from the dead, and how intimately you conversed with him. Your eyes see"
(as Joseph said to his brethren, when his discovering himself to them was as
life from the dead) "that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you,
Gen.
xlv. 12. Go, and tell them, then, that he that was dead is alive,
and lives for evermore, and has the keys of death and the grave,"
[2.] The great gospel duty of repentance must be
pressed upon the children of men. Repentance for sin must be
preached in Christ's name, and by his authority,
v. 47. All men every where must be called and commanded to
repent,
Acts
xvii. 30. "Go, and tell all people that the God that made them, and the
Lord that bought them, expects and requires that, immediately upon this
notice given, they turn from the worship of the gods that they have made to
the worship of the God that made them; and not only so, but from serving the
interests of the world and the flesh; they must turn to the service of God
in Christ, must mortify all sinful habits, and forsake all sinful practices.
Their hearts and lives must be changed, and they must be universally renewed
and reformed."
[3.] The great gospel privilege of the remission of sins
must be proposed to all, and assured to all that repent, and
believe the gospel. "Go, tell a guilty world, that stands convicted
and condemned at God's bar, that an act of indemnity has passed the royal
assent, which all that repent and believe shall have the benefit of, and not
only be pardoned, but preferred by. Tell them that there is
hope concerning them."
(2.) To whom they must preach. Whither must they carry these
proposals, and how far does their commission extend? They are here told,
[1.] That they must preach this among all nations. They must disperse
themselves, like the sons of Noah after the flood, some one way and some
another, and carry this light along with them wherever they go. The prophets
had preached repentance and remission to the Jews, but
the apostles must preach them to all the world. None are exempted
from the obligations the gospel lays upon men to repent, nor are any
excluded from those inestimable benefits which are included in the
remission of sins, but those that by their unbelief and impenitency put a
bar in their own door. [2.] That they must begin at Jerusalem There
they must preach their first gospel sermon; there the gospel
church must be first formed; there the gospel day must dawn, and thence
that light shall go forth which must take hold on the ends of the earth. And
why must they begin there? First, Because thus it was written,
and therefore it behoved them to take this method. The word of the
Lord must go forth from Jerusalem,
Isa.
ii. 3. And see
Joel ii. 32; iii. 16; Obad. 21; Zech. xiv. 8. Secondly, Because
there the matters of fact on which the gospel was founded were transacted;
and therefore there they were first attested, where, if there had been any
just cause for it, they might be best contested and disproved. So strong, so
bright, is the first shining forth of the glory of the risen Redeemer that
it dares face those daring enemies of his that had put him to an ignominious
death, and sets them at defiance. "Begin at Jerusalem, that the chief
priests may try their strength to crush the gospel, and may rage to see
themselves disappointed." Thirdly, Because he would give us a further
example of forgiving enemies. Jerusalem had put the greatest affronts
imaginable upon him (both the rulers and the multitude), for which that city
might justly have been excepted by name out of the act of indemnity; but no,
so far from that, the first offer of gospel grace is made to Jerusalem, and
thousands there are in a little time brought to partake of that grace.
(3.) What assistance they should have in preaching. It is a
vast undertaking that they are here called to, a very large and difficult
province, especially considering the opposition this service would meet
with, and the sufferings it would be attended with. If therefore they ask,
Who is sufficient for these things? here is an answer ready:
Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, and you shall be
endued with power from on high,
v. 49. He here assures them that in a little time the Spirit should
be poured out upon them in greater measures than ever, and they should
thereby be furnished with all those gifts and graces which were necessary to
their discharge of this great trust; and therefore they must tarry at
Jerusalem, and not enter upon it till this be done. Note, [1.] Those who
receive the Holy Ghost are thereby endued with a power from on
high, a supernatural power, a power above any of their own; it is
from on high, and therefore draws the soul upward, and makes it to
aim high. [2.] Christ's apostles could never have planted his gospel,
and set up his kingdom in the world, as they did, if they had not been
endued with such a power; and their admirable achievements prove that there
was an excellency of power going along with them. [3.] This power from on
high was the promise of the Father, the great promise of the New
Testament, as the promise of the coming of Christ was of the Old Testament.
And, if it be the promise of the Father, we may be sure that the
promise is inviolable and the thing promised invaluable. [4.]
Christ would not leave his disciples till the time was just at hand for the
performing of this promise. It was but ten days after the ascension
of Christ that there came the descent of the Spirit. [5.] Christ's
ambassadors must stay till they have their powers, and not venture upon
their embassy till they have received full instructions and credentials.
Though, one would think, never was such haste as now for the preaching of
the gospel, yet the preachers must tarry till they be endued with power from
on high, and tarry at Jerusalem, though a place of danger, because
there this promise of the Father was to find them,
Joel
ii. 28.
