p. 725 | This Same Jesus by S. P. Bollman

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 4, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 46.

“This Same Jesus.”

By S. P. Bollman

“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.” Acts 1:11.

THE action of the disciples at the time of the ascension of the Lord Jesus, was very natural, and just what might have been expected from all the circumstances which preceded, and were immediately connected with that grand event. To have been companions of the Saviour during his ministry, was a privilege of precious value. His teachings, so rich and varied,—what a feast to intellectual and moral natures! These the disciples had enjoyed, and by them had grown in grace, and strength of character, to fit them for the tribulations of after days. The short, dark night of gloom which intervened, when Jesus was apprehended by Roman soldiers, crucified, and buried, was soon passed, and comparatively forgotten, amid the splendors which gilded the resurrection morn, and the precious interviews which took place during the forty days which passed between the resurrection and the ascension. These had been of such a character as to knit together in love the hearts of that little band with an affection stronger than death. Is it any wonder then, that when, in the very act of blessing his disciples, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven, their eyes should follow the receding form until lost to view, and then still continue to gaze until the voice of the two angel messengers, standing by, recalled them to a consciousness of the (to them) sad reality,—the Master was indeed gone? And how hope-inspiring that interrogatory, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Yes, that was the strong consolation, “This same Jesus shall so come;” the very same loving Saviour, the sympathizing One, who “was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.” Heb. 4:15. Nothing could so cheer and gladden the hearts of the disciples as this thought. We shall in very deed see him again; shall behold him and not a stranger (Job 19:27, margin); though trials and tribulations, and a martyr’s death may await us, we shall see him again, and we shall be like him. He will come again to receive us to himself, that where he is—we may be also. John 14:3. How fitting that he who began the good work of salvation from sin, of all the true children of Abraham, by foundations so deep and broad, should meet in all the splendor of his second advent, the blood-washed throng, who shall ever “hail him blessed Jesus.” And when he comes, will there not be groups, and bands, and companies of disciples looking for him towards the same heavens into which the men of Galilee gazed?

And looking too for the same Jesus. Oh rapturous thought! that the subjects of this “so great salvation” are all indebted to this same Jesus, and constitute together the long line of witnesses looking for the second coming of the Lord, and who will continue to look a little longer. “For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.” Heb. 10:37.

Therefore “be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5:8. Believers in Jesus who long for the Saviour’s appearing, it will not be long until our descending Lord shall come with a shout to claim his own, and gather his jewels up, to awake his sleeping ones, and change his living, watching ones, making them meet for their “inheritance amongst the saints in light.”

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. Compare 1 Cor. 15:52, 53.

S. P. BOLLMAN.