0485. The Resurrection Assured

The Resurrection Assured

"I will declare Thy name unto My brethren:

"In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee" (Psa_22:22).

It seems to us that the 22d Psalm was actually spoken by our Lord as He hung upon the Cross. Certainly the words are more than generally prophetic of that scene. Why should we think it strange, if our Lord while dying actually repeated, line upon line, this Psalm. If such is the case, we are assured that even in the hour of His agonies, He looked beyond the Cross, and proclaimed the resurrection. He had time and again in life foretold His resurrection–why should He not foretell it as He died?

Our Lord knew that death would not end His all. He cried, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." The fulfillment of these word’s certainly carries us to the post resurrection scene, where Christ said, "Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father; and to My God, and your God." Christ must have had this very scene before Him, as He died. He knew that He would come forth from the grave; He knew that He would meet His disciples; He knew that by virtue of His death and resurrection, He could call them brethren; He knew that He would stand in the midst of His saints and that He would yet praise His God.

All of this Christ did as He stood twice in the midst of the eleven, and again as He stood in the midst of above five hundred brethren at once. The conversation of those wonderful gatherings we may well imagine. All were filled with joy and gladness.

Not alone did Jesus Christ praise God; He called upon all who feared Him, upon the brethren to praise Him too.

From Psa_22:25, it seems that our Lord looked on through the centuries and saw great assemblies gathering from time to time through the ages. There He would be praised. He even saw our congregation, and heard our hymns of joy.

Christ knew that He would come forth from the grave.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR