The Salutation of the Risen Christ

Rev. J.C. Weststrate (1919-1998)

We were privileged to commemorate the resurrection of the Savior on Easter Sunday, but now the great question: “Did we have the fruits and profits of this commemoration for our own soul in an experimental way like those to whom the Lord Jesus revealed Himself after His death?” Perhaps you ask, what are those blessings which flow forth from a risen Christ? You can read this in your Bible. By and through His resurrection, Christ makes His people partakers of that righteousness which He has purchased for them through His death. He applies to them what He has merited. Have you received that righteousness by faith? Without His righteousness we are the most miserable of creatures. If we die as we are born, in our own unrighteousness, we shall lose both body and soul forever and ever. Are you concerned about that? Is the question, “How shall I be righteous before a holy, just, and longsuffering God” the most important question in your life? Has it ever been Easter for you?

Listen, then, to the salutation of the risen Christ to His disciples. The disciples had been in a sad situation. The oppressions, afflictions, and fears in their heart in the past days and the departure of Christ’s presence had left them with little of the hope and comfort of former days. Although they were together, and not alone, all was dark both within and without. Do you also know of such times? Were you gladdened in former days by His presence, by means of His work and Spirit, but now it seems that it was only in the imagination of your heart, and you fear that you have deceived yourself? It is at such times that Christ Himself comes through the barred doors in His sovereignty.

The disciples had shut the doors on account of their fear of the Jews. The faithful Mediator, however, knows the frames of His people. He comes unexpectedly. It is Jesus Himself who is present in their midst to teach and to bless them. Where did He come from, and how was it possible that He came? They were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. Christ’s all-knowing mediatorial heart knows all the fears and thoughts of His disciples. He rebukes them but, at the same time, sets their hearts at ease. He is not a spirit, but He is their personal Savior. It is He who lives and is alive for evermore. Christ, in the midst of His children in the night of His resurrection, will never leave nor forsake His own in the midst of all their affliction and tribulations. He knew how sorrowful they were when they fled as He was captured.

In all their sorrow He presents Himself in the midst of them to comfort them and to take away their many doubts and darkened fears by strengthening their fading faith. How their sad spirits change when He unites His unbreakable bond of love with them. It is a bond of one spirit, true faith, and ardent love. He is always with them in whatever sad and sorrowful circumstances they may find themselves.

He speaks to them, “Peace be unto you.” It is a voice of tender love and mercy to those who are sitting with a broken and contrite heart. This is the salutation of peace of the risen One, of Jesus to poor sinners. Peace—what a wonderful word this is for those who have been convicted by the Holy Spirit. It is in the way of that true conviction that God’s people learn to confess that they have forsaken their Creator and that they can never find peace without God and without Christ. From their side all hope falls away. An offended Judge must condemn them. The Holy Law accuses them; even Satan and their own conscience point to their many transgressions and iniquities. Have you ever become such an undone and hell-worthy creature? When we are in such great need and under the threatening of eternal death, it becomes impossible for such a convicted sinner to be saved from his side. Only Jesus, who conquered death and triumphed over all the powers of sin, Satan, and hell in His resurrection, can give deliverance.

He can give the peace which He merited with His shed blood on the cross and apply it to the hearts of condemnable sinners to cleanse them from all their sins. That peace is from Him who has given entire satisfaction for all the demands of a righteous God who cannot and will not renounce His justice and who cannot let sinners go unpunished—peace, because Jesus has borne the punishment and is wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities, and the chastisement of their peace was upon Him as the substitute for all His elect—peace because He, in the way of suffering and dying, satisfied the offended justice of God. God the Father justified Him and, in Him, all those who were raised with Him in His resurrection.

This peace is merited by Jesus Christ. This peace with God which flows forth from Him is applied by the Holy Ghost to those who are poor and of a contrite spirit and who tremble at His Word. What a blessing and unspeakable benefit it is to look upon Him with an eye of faith when it pleases Christ to reveal Himself. These moments became unforgettable to the disciples because at such a time the dark clouds which lay so low upon their heart’s horizon fled away. Now when He stood in the midst of them and spoke, “Peace be unto you,” they whispered, “He is our peace.”

Have you ever laid the weapons of your enmity at His feet? Have you ever learned that you are an enemy of God, a rebellious person without peace in your heart because of your own guilt? Have you ever acknowledged your sentence of death? Have you ever cried for mercy as the publican in the back of the temple did? Have you ever been humbled before a holy and a righteous God? Were you truly sorrowful for your sins? At God’s appointed time you shall hear, as did the disciples, that salutation of the risen Savior. He merited peace and will apply it because in His resurrection He justified all His people.

Is there a need for this salutation in your life? Is there a need for peace? Ask the Lord to open your blind eyes and to enlighten your understanding before it is too late. Will it be well for time and eternity, then we stand in need of that peace—that peace which is merited by Christ’s humiliation and is applied to our heart by the power of His resurrection in His exaltation.

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