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S.D.A. Bible Commentary Vol. 5
favor through the merits of Christ. Christ guarantees that He will
make a man “more precious than fine gold; even a man than the
golden wedge of Ophir.” All power in heaven and on earth is now
given to the Prince of life; yet He does not for a moment forget His
poor disciples in a sinful world, but prepares to return to them, that
He may impart to them His power and glory. Thus did the Redeemer
of mankind, by the sacrifice of Himself, connect earth with heaven,
and finite man with the infinite God (
The Spirit of Prophecy 3:202,
203
).
17 (
John 10:18
). All of Christ Remained in Tomb
—Jesus said
to Mary, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.”
When He closed His eyes in death upon the cross, the soul of Christ
did not go at once to heaven, as many believe, or how could His
words be true—“I am not yet ascended to my Father”? The spirit
of Jesus slept in the tomb with His body, and did not wing its way
to heaven, there to maintain a separate existence, and to look down
upon the mourning disciples embalming the body from which it had
[1151]
taken flight. All that comprised the life and intelligence of Jesus
remained with His body in the sepulcher; and when He came forth
it was as a whole being; He did not have to summon His spirit from
heaven. He had power to lay down His life and to take it up again
(
The Spirit of Prophecy 3:203, 204
).
21, 22. A Foretaste of Pentecost
—The act of Christ in breathing
upon His disciples the Holy Ghost, and in imparting His peace to
them, was as a few drops before the plentiful shower to be given on
the day of Pentecost. Jesus impressed this fact upon His disciples,
that as they should proceed in the work intrusted to them, they would
the more fully comprehend the nature of that work, and the manner
in which the kingdom of Christ was to be set up on earth. They were
appointed to be witnesses for the Saviour; they were to testify what
they had seen and heard of His resurrection; they were to repeat
the gracious words which proceeded from His lips. They were
acquainted with His holy character; He was as an angel standing in
the sun, yet casting no shadow. It was the sacred work of the apostles
to present the spotless character of Christ to men, as the standard for
their lives. The disciples had been so intimately associated with this
Pattern of holiness that they were in some degree assimilated to Him