“Peace Be Unto You”
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They beheld the hands and feet marred by the cruel nails. They
recognized His voice, like no other they had ever heard. “And while
they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have
ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and
of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them.” “Then
were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.” Faith and joy took
the place of unbelief, and with feelings which no words could express
they acknowledged their risen Saviour.
At the birth of Jesus the angel announced, Peace on earth, and
good will to men. And now at His first appearance to the disciples
after His resurrection, the Saviour addressed them with the blessed
words, “Peace be unto you.” Jesus is ever ready to speak peace to souls
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that are burdened with doubts and fears. He waits for us to open the
door of the heart to Him, and say, Abide with us. He says, “Behold, I
stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”
Revelation 3:20
.
The resurrection of Jesus was a type of the final resurrection of all
who sleep in Him. The countenance of the risen Saviour, His manner,
His speech, were all familiar to His disciples. As Jesus arose from
the dead, so those who sleep in Him are to rise again. We shall know
our friends, even as the disciples knew Jesus. They may have been
deformed, diseased, or disfigured, in this mortal life, and they rise in
perfect health and symmetry; yet in the glorified body their identity
will be perfectly preserved. Then shall we know even as also we are
known.
1 Corinthians 13:12
. In the face radiant with the light shining
from the face of Jesus, we shall recognize the lineaments of those we
love.
When Jesus met with His disciples, He reminded them of the words
He had spoken to them before His death, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in
the Psalm concerning Him. “Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it
is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
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dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And ye are witnesses of these things.”