Acts 1:10-11 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;… I. MEN OVERPOWERED AND DISPOSSESSED OF SELF-CONTROL IN THE PRESENCE OF A WONDROUS REVELATION. There are moments in which men are not themselves. Great events suddenly happen and the spectators lose all presence of mind, however sagacious they may ordinarily be. Sometimes they cannot speak for joy, sometimes for terror, sometimes for simple amazement. This is the case sometimes with children, and often with men when, e.g., a letter is received containing unexpected news. The thing to be remembered here is that this is the natural effect of Christian revelation. When the angels came to Bethlehem the shepherds were afraid, so were the women to whom the angels spake at the sepulchre. And no man ought to receive Divine communications or see Divine effects without sensibility. Nor ought we to look on the sublimities of nature or the wonders of art as if they were nothing. This is one of the perils of familiarity. A rustic thinks little of the mountain under whose shadow he was born, but is struck dumb when he gazes on St. Paul's. A Londoner passes the cathedral without knowing that it is there, but looks at Snowdon for hours during his summer holiday. II. MEN RECALLED FROM ENFEEBLING REVERIE. It was good for them to look upward, but there was something more to be done. We can waste time in the sublimest contemplation. When a man is naturally inclined to ecstasy he ought to fight against his inclination so as to bring it into harmony with other powers. There are persons to whom Christianity is so sublime a thing that they fail to see it in practical life. It is right to have hours of rapture, but a man cannot live so always. So the disciples were interrogated by the two men in white apparel — Moses and Elias, I think; for there is something Mosaic in the inquiry, and something of the power and passion of Elijah. We too are matched by the old master-workers of the world. Seeing then we are encompassed by so great a cloud of witnesses, why should our life be a gazing when we are called to work? When the women looked down into the sepulchre, the angel said, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" So we are not always to be looking down. The lesson of the text is that we must not always be looking up. What then is to be our attitude? Look about you; and look up only to gain inspiration for the work nearest to hand. III. MEN INSTRUCTED AND COMPORTED BY A PROMISE. "This same Jesus." Who wants an amended Christ? "This same Jesus" who knows, has taught, has died to save you "shall come again." One would like to see Jesus; but one would not like Him to be so changed that those who knew Him first know Him no longer. We want such elements of identity as shall enable the disciples to gladly recognise Him as the same Christ. He is promised to come again in the same sublime fashion, sovereign in will, gentle in spirit, pure as God, tenderer than woman. The world cannot live without that promise. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; |
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