Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. and heard, and felt. For this purpose Christ had chosen them. They had been with him three years, witnessed his miracles, listened to his doctrines, marked his purity. They had seen him mocked, scourged, crucified, and buried. He had appeared to them again, by infallible signs, a risen Saviour. Now he sends them first to Jerusalem, where the most important of these events had transpired, to bear public testimony to the truth of these things; so that, the facts not being questioned where they happened, the rest of the world could have no grounds of unbelief. But their work was not to end here. They were to testify of Christ, also, throughout Judea, among the despised Samaritans, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. Thus did the apostles. They preached Christ, and him crucified, in sight of the hill upon which he was crucified, at an early day founded a church in Samaria, (chap. viii, 6–15,) and then scattered themselves throughout the world. It is our duty to be witnesses unto Jesus : "What we have felt and seen, With confidence to tell; By our sympathies, prayers, and contributions, if we do not give ourselves personally to the work, we should seek to spread the knowledge of the Messiah to earth's remotest bounds. The word μaprupes, witnesses, confessors, has been applied to those holy men who suffered the loss of life for Christ's sake. They are termed martyrs because they testified of Christ, or witnessed to the truth of his religion, with their blood; by their deaths they confessed that he was the only Saviour. 9. And when he had spoken these things, &c.] (See Notes on the Gospels, vol. iv, p. 507.) In the notes upon St. Mark's account of the ascension, the satisfactory character of this event is noticed. It did not transpire in the darkness of the night; Jesus did not secretly take himself away. In the light of broad day, while their senses were bright and active, as they were conversing together-in the body that he had borne while on the earth, bearing the marks of his sufferings— before the fastened gaze of his disciples, he began to ascend. They saw him rise until, in the region of the clouds, he was veiled from their eyes; or perhaps, as on the mount, a luminous cloud descended and enveloped him as he arose. "This event was exceedingly important, because, 1st. It was a confirmation of the truth of the Chris 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven, tian religion. 2d. It enabled the apostles to state distinctly where the Saviour was, and at once directed their affections and their thoughts away from the earth, and opened their eyes on the glory of the scheme of religion they were to establish. If their Saviour were in heaven, it settled the question about the nature of his kingdom. It was clear that it was not designed to be a temporal kingdom."-BARNES. 10. Steadfastly] Attentively-continually. Two men] Angels in human form. In this form these heavenly visitants usually mani fested themselves to those whom they visited at God's command This form would be most likely to calm the fears that such a visitant must inspire, and would be the most grateful to the human vision. (See Matt. xxviii, 2; Luke xxiv, 4.) In white apparel] Emblematical of their purity. Thus it is said of the faithful members of the church in Sardis: "They shall walk with me in white." Rev. iii, 4. John beheld a "multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." Rev. vii, 9. 11. Ye men of Galilee] The apostles had been residents of Galileethe northern province of Palestine in the time of Christ-before Jesus called them. Why stand ye] This question might have been asked by the angels in order to call the abstracted attention of the apostles to themselves, and secure their belief in a more important event than the one they were witnessing. There might have been a little censure in it, as if they would say, "Why look so astonished, so sorrowful, so overwhelmed? Did you not believe him when he said, 'I must go to my Father,' and 'It is expedient that I go away? If you love him now, keep his commandments, and witness for him in Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth." "We may see from this that it is not our duty to stand in idleness, and to gaze toward heaven. We, as well as the apostles, have a great work to do, and we should actively engage in it without delay." Shall so come in like manner] That is, he shall come suddenly and personally, appearing clearly to all, and descending in a luminous and heavenly cloud. Our Lord foretold this second coming to judge the world before his death, Matt. xxvi, 64: "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of 12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath-day's journey. 13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Ân power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." In 2 Thess. i, 7, 8, we are told that "the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire." How important, "seeing we look for such things, to be diligent, that we may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless!" 12. The mount called Olivet] The Mount of Olives. (See Longking's Notes on the Gospels, vol. iii, p. 32; vol. iv, p. 8.) A sabbathday's journey] “A sabbath-day's journey was the distance beyond which the traditions of the elders' made it unlawful for a Jew to travel on the sabbath day. The distance was two thousand cubits from any town or city," or about two-thirds of a mile. Journeying on the sabbath was strictly forbidden to the Jews; and the prohibition in Exodus xvi, 29, "Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day," they understood as an injunction not to remove from the town, or place of their habitation, except for the distance of two thousand cubits; which space was allowed by the Rabbins because of the two thousand cubits measured out on each side from the cities of the Levites, (Num. xxxv, 5,) and also the two thousand cubits left between the ark and the people. Josh. iii, 4. This, however, was a tradition of the elders, and not a law of God. While they openly broke God's laws, they most scrupulously kept these traditions. Whoever transgressed this precept was punished with stripes. "It should be observed, however, that the rule only applies to distances from a town; for, whatever was the extent of a town, a person might walk to any distance within its limits without transgression. Thus, in London, (for the regulation is still rigidly enforced,) Jews often go a very considerable distance, on the sabbath day, to and from their synagogues."— Eng. Pic. Bible. "Olivet was but five furlongs from Jerusalem, and Bethany was fifteen. The first region, or tract, of Mount Olivet, which was called Bethany, was distant from the city a sabbath-day's journey, or seven furlongs and a half.-When, therefore, our Lord came to the place where these two tracts touched each other, he there ascended, which place was distant from Jerusalem a sabbath-day's journey, as St. Luke here remarks."-DR. CLARKE. 13. And when they were come in] To Jerusalem. Into an upper room] Some have supposed, from what is stated in St. Luke's Gospel, namely, that when they returned from the Mount of Olives they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God, that the upper room drew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. referred to was one of the upper rooms in the courts of the temple. But this expression may mean no more than that they passed their time principally in the temple, and were engaged continually in acts of worship. It was common, among the Jews, to have a large upper room devoted to religious purposes, where they read and conversed upon the law, attended to their social prayers, and celebrated the passover. In such a room Christ and his disciples partook of the last supper; and in a room of this character, probably in the third story, Paul preached when Eutychus fell out of the window upon the pavement beneath. The room referred to was probably such an one as is above described, in the house where Peter and the other apostles resided. At a later date "the early Christians were accustomed to assemble in some convenient upper room, set apart for the purpose." James the son of Alpheus] Called James the Less, to distinguish him from the other James, who was the brother of John and son of Zebedee. Alpheus is believed to be the same as Cleophas, mentioned, in John xix, 25, as the husband of Mary, who was sister to our Lord's mother. (Compare Mark xv, 40, where Mary is called the mother of James the Less.) This James, therefore, and his brother Judas, or Jude, were own cousins to Jesus." Simon Zelotes] Called, in Matt. x, 4, Simon the Canaanite, or, as it should be spelt, Cananite; the two appellations, the first Greek, the last Hebrew, referring to the same thing. "In the age of Christ and the apostles there was, among the Jews, an extensive association of private individuals, who undertook to maintain the purity of the national religion by inflicting punishment, without the form of trial, on all Jews who should violate their sacred institutions. They declared themselves impelled by more than human zeal."-RIPLEY. Simon was, as his surnames signify, probably a member of this association before he became a disciple of Christ. 14. These all continued] They persevered in their prayers-were united in their object-praying for the fulfillment of the "promise of the Father." They made this their chief and constant employment, waiting in patient expectation for the blessing of the Comforter. With the women] Those, perhaps, who had followed Jesus from Galilee. Matt. xxvii, 55. The wives of some of the apostles and disciples might have been also included. It is known that at least Peter was married. 15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of the names together were about a hundred and twenty,) 16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake Matt. viii, 14. And Mary the mother of Jesus] "Here is the last time,” says Whitby," that we have any mention of this blessed mother. Of the story of her ascension into heaven, as held by the Romanists, St. Luke says nothing, because he knew nothing of it; that idle tale being the invention of later ages from apocryphal writings and vain revelations." If it had been the intention of the Bible that divine worship should be paid to the Virgin Mary, as do the Romanists to this day, how strange that she should receive so slight a notice from the apostles; and that none of them, or of the early disciples, rendered it to her. And with his brethren] The near relatives of our Lord, who, although they did not at first believe in him, afterward were converted and became his disciples. John vii, 3-5. 15. In those days] Between the ascension and the day of Pentecost, while they were engaged in united prayer and devotion. The number of names] The number of persons. Rev. iii, 4. About a hundred and twenty] That is, this number were assembled in this upper room; for the whole number of disciples at this time was much larger than this, our Lord having manifested himself to five hundred at once. 1 Cor. XV, 6. 16. Men and brethren] The conjunction is not in the original, which literally and more expressively reads, men, brethren; the first term being a token of respect, the latter of affection. This scripture] Name ly, the passage quoted in the twentieth verse. Must needs have been fulfilled] That is, all the prophecies of holy writ must be fulfilled, yet the divine Being compelled no one of those engaged in these transactions to do as they did; they acting voluntarily, according to their own free choice fulfilled what the divine mind saw would transpire at such times. Thus, inspired prophets foretold that Jesus would be betrayed, and put to a painful death; but this by no means compelled Judas, or any other persons, to act the guilty parts they did in the scene. They followed the purposes of their own depraved hearts; and so oppressed, as we shall see, was Judas with the crime he had committed, and the guilt that stained his soul on account of it, that he brought upon himself an awful end. Which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David] That is, David was inspired by the Holy Ghost when he wrote these words; a strong assurance of the inspiration of the book of Psalms-although the lips of David uttered them, they were |