On That Day

by Toms, A. F. | Category: General | Feb 1976

Most emphatically does John stress the day on which those memorable experiences happened which so radically changed the lives of his fellow apostles and himself. It was on that day, the day made for ever glorious by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from among the dead (John 20:19). On that day, without doubt the greatest day on record in heaven as well as on earth. It opened for the disciples with fear and sadness, but closed with a deep sense of peace and joy filling their hearts. And the difference was made by the personal appearance of the Lord Jesus in their midst.

"Peace be unto you", He said, and as though to prove that His peace was real and lasting He showed them His hands and His side. He had made peace through the blood of His cross. The peace which He had bequeathed to them before His death (John 14:27) had been purchased at tremendous cost, and as long as those marks remain in His glorious body their peace and ours will be forever secure. And again He said, "Peace be unto you". "I create the fruit of lips: Peace, peace... "(Isa. 57:19). It was peace for the present and peace for the future; peace to calm their fearful hearts that night, and peace for all the days of service ahead into which He was now sending them.

"Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you". Remarkable words by any reckoning. In what way were these men being sent as the Father had sent His Son? In His prayer in John 17 the Lord Jesus spoke of one similarity. "As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world". They had been taken out of the world and given to the Son. Now He was sending them back into it, no longer as belonging to it, but to declare the Father's love. And therein lay another similarity. He had been sent to make known the love of God to men. "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him". And having completed His work, He now commits to these men the responsibility of carrying on what He had begun.

They were sent men. This very fact brought purpose into their lives. They were following a Master who Himself had been sent and who loved to describe Himself so. "The Father hath sent Me" He said. "The living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father". And each of the days of His flesh He lived to fulfil the purpose for which the Father had sent Him. And now they were being sent, to the same work and in the same way as the Father had sent His Son.

This sending continues. "They, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit" (Acts 13:4). The voice of the Lord still cries, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Happy the servant who is ready to respond, "Here am I; send me".

"Christ the Son of God hath sent me,

Through the midnight lands;

Mine the mighty ordination

Of the pierced hands!"

"And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit". It must have been an occasion they would never forget. Did He face each one of those men and breathe on them individually? Or did He breathe on them as a company? We do not know. But it is an arresting statement and we cannot escape the similarity between this passage and Genesis 2:7 where the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Perfect but lifeless the body lay, until God breathed into it, and immediately it pulsated with life and power.

They did not receive the Holy Spirit that evening. Clearly He did not come to indwell them until the day of Pentecost. But when He came it was to fill them with spiritual life and power. "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you", and the remarkable fulfilment of that promise is unfolded to us in the book of the Acts.

Without doubt it was an outstanding day. No wonder John emphasizes it as he does. Peace, purpose and power- all three came under review as the Lord Jesus discoursed with them on the evening of His resurrection day. Nineteen centuries have rolled by, but each one of His points still holds good. That day or this day, to the peace of Christ we also have been called, and with it deep in our hearts, sent out to serve in the same Holy Spirit power which energized them in their day. They answered the call and found His promise wholly true, "Lo, I am with you alway". Are we prepared to do the same?"

Toms, A. F. | Feb 1976
General