For our Lord Jesus Christ to have risen from the dead was astoundingly remarkable in itself, and, had He only appeared to a few, it would have been additionally remarkable. But His repeated appearances, not merely to His close disciples but to above 500 persons at once, most of whom were still alive as Paul, the apostle, rendered the account in 1st Corinthians 15. All this is beyond astounding.
But there’s more! He made these appearances repeatedly over a period of forty days. Think of that! For nearly six weeks after His resurrection, He made Himself visible in multiple venues before individuals and large groups. What was the point of this lengthy exposure? One might think that, following His resurrection and a few appearances to a like few disciples, He might as well have returned to Heaven at the side of His Father. He easily could have done so, calling the mission accomplished.
Actually, we’re not given any clear reason for Christ remaining on earth nearly six weeks after He rose from the dead, only that He did. Dr. Luke put it this way in the opening verses of Acts 1, “Christ showed Himself alive, after His passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” So, apart from His appearances assuring His followers He was very much alive, He engaged in teaching sessions, no doubt several teaching sessions, during those forty days. And He spoke pertaining to the kingdom of God. We would dearly love to know exactly what He revealed about the kingdom, but we are not told.
We are told, and we do know from this time in Acts, chapter 1, that the apostles asked Christ whether He would now, after His resurrection, restore the kingdom to Israel. He did not say there would be no kingdom, because of Israel’s rejection, neither did He say the only kingdom there would be would be spiritual in nature. He simply said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power.” He continued by telling them that apart from their seeing the kingdom established, there was a specific calling He imparted to them. It was a reiteration of what He disclosed at the conclusion of the gospels, namely, the apostles would be recipients of a specially endowment from the Holy Spirit, and He would enable them to carry out their extensive ministry, the ministry of being witnesses to Christ, Israel’s Messiah. His being revealed and available in some fashion for forty days after rising from the dead had to have to firmly fixed His resurrection in the minds of the apostles there could be no possibility of their denying it or forgetting it. It had to have been the principle factor in buoying up their spirits and stiffening their backbone against the formidable onslaught of persecution just ahead and following the ascension of their Lord. Wonderful! Many infallible proofs… forty days of dynamic teaching. Priceless!
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