Acts 1:3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days… Luke, the writer of our twofold gospel of the resurrection, was a physician, who would have been inclined and able to sift the evidences of our Lord's bodily presence and identity among His followers. The longest and best accounts of Christ's return to earth, except those of John, are by a medical expert. Special past events were referred to by the Lord, which were familiar to the disciples, such as the baptism of John. Stanley carried a boy back up the Congo who had been taken from there when quite small. Coming into the vicinity of the dwelling place of his tribe, a canoe rowed out to meet the steamer. In the boat the lad recognised his elder brother, but the latter was sceptical, and cried, "Give me some sign that I may know you." The boy who had been away answered at once, "Do you remember the crocodile? His scar is there on your right arm." So Christ to His disciples gave many proofs. His lines of thought and speech during His forty days' residence among them were in the familiar phrase of the past, such as the "things concerning the kingdom of God." There might have been good evidences of Jesus's resurrection if He had appeared in China or under the Southern Cross or in the clearings of the Danubian forests. Had He gone there after He came from the grave, by the by the tidings would have reached the outer world of some strange and illustrious personage who manifested Himself at one place and another, just as a comet is reported in the sky. Yet we should always be grateful that the Lord showed Himself alive to those apostles "whom He had chosen." There was the possibility of verification which we so often ask for. (W. R. Campbell.) Parallel Verses KJV: To whom also he shewed 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: |
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